Inflation revised slightly upwards in August, to 4.9% over one year

Consumer prices rose 4.9% year-on-year in August, according to the revised rate that INSEE made public Friday September 15. Inflation therefore marks a new jump after the 4.3% increase in July. This increase is “mainly due to the one-year rebound in energy prices” which rose 6.8% over one year in August (after a decline of 3.7% in July), due to the 10% increase in electricity prices and the rebound in gasoline prices.

Food prices, one of the main drivers of inflation, continued to record a double-digit increase (11.2%), but marked a slight slowdown compared to July (12.7%). Prices of services (3%) and manufactured products (3.1%) also slowed.

Unlike total inflation, underlying inflation, which excludes the most fluctuating elements such as energy and certain food products, and thus makes it possible to identify an underlying trend in the evolution of prices, was registered down to 4.6% year-on-year in August, after 5% in July. The harmonized consumer price index (HICP), used for European-wide comparisons, increased from 5.1% in July to 5.7% in August.