2023-05-31 09:30:28
Inflation had reached +5.9% in April over one year. Sondem / stock.adobe.com
This decline can be explained in particular by the sharp deceleration in energy prices, as well as by the drop in food prices.
The beginning of a lasting decline? Inflation slowed markedly in May in France, to 5.1% over one year, after reaching 5.9% in April and more than 6% at the start of the year, according to the first estimate of INSEE unveiled this Wednesday. Such a low level of price increase over one year had not been seen for more than a year (+4.8% in April 2022).
«This fall in inflation is due to the year-on-year slowdown in the prices of energy, food, manufactured goods and services», Explains the National Institute of Statistics, while «tobacco prices should accelerate for the third consecutive month».
In detail, it is mainly energy that is pulling inflation down, “in the wake of oil product prices“. Energy prices rose 2% year on year in May, from 6.8% in April. Food prices also fell, but less sharply (+14.1% after +15% in April).
Read alsoInflation: why it is illusory to hope for a return to “before prices”
Bruno Le Maire welcomes
Guest on France Inter this Wednesday morning, Bruno Le Maire welcomed this drop. “Inflation is slowing down, and it is even slowing down sharply. This is the first time in several months that we have seen inflation slow down in Francesaid the Minister of the Economy. We have always indicated with the government that at the start of the summer we would see inflation slow down, we are there, inflation is slowing down, and there are a certain number of prices which will start to fall.“For several weeks, the tenant of Bercy has been repeating in effect anticipating a peak in inflation in mid-2023, after having repeatedly advanced, wrongly, this promise for a year.
The decline observed is greater than that anticipated by INSEE in its latest economic report, published in early May. The institute predicted inflation at +5.7% in May and +5.4% in June over one year. The level of the index next month will partly depend on the fate of the “trimestre anti-inflationlaunched by the government in March. Originally scheduled to end on June 15, it could be extended. In any case, this is the wish of the executive, who would like to see it last at least until the start of the school year in September. Nevertheless, “the slight decline in headline inflation forecast for mid-2023 does not presume its evolution during the second half of the year“, specified the INSEE at the beginning of the month.
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