France’s annual CPI inflation was reported to have risen to 3.7% in December from an almost 2-year low of 3.5% in November, preliminary data by INSEE showed.
In comparison, market consensus had pointed to a sharper uptick to 3.8%.
Higher inflation in December was mostly driven by higher cost of energy (up 5.6% year-on-year versus 3.1% increase in November) and cost of services (up 3.1% year-on-year versus 2.8% increase in November).
On the other hand, prices went up at a slower rate for manufactured products (1.4% year-on-year versus 1.9% rise in November), while inflation was steady for tobacco, at 9.8%.
Food inflation continued to decelerate in December, to 7.1%, which has been a 17-month low.
In month-over-month terms, consumer prices edged up 0.1% in December, following a 0.2% drop in November.
The Euro was 0.25% firmer on the day against the US Dollar, with the EUR/USD currency pair last trading at 1.0948.
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