Paris-French inflation hit a record high in April due to soaring energy prices. Preliminary data on Friday put pressure on the newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron to implement the inflation measures promised during the campaign.
According to the INSEE Bureau of Statistics, consumer prices rose 0.5% in April, with an annual rate of 5.4%, the highest since France began using European Union methodologies in the early 1990s. Inflation in March was 5.1%.
This rise, boosted by rising prices for services and manufactured goods, as well as an annual rise in energy prices of 26.6%, exceeds the average forecast of 17 Reuters economists polls that inflation remains unchanged. rice field.
Macron is preparing for the May legislative election, and the surge is bad news as he won his second term this month after a campaign focused on rising living costs as prices exceeded wages. ..
So far, the Macron government has been in other euro areas except Malta, thanks to a € 25 billion ($ 26 billion) package that helps consumers cope with rising prices, primarily through caps on rising energy prices. We were able to keep inflation lower than in the country.
“The government must address purchasing power issues by raising wages,” Philippe Martinez, head of the hardline CGT union, told Reuters.
During the campaign, Macron signaled that it would like to enact an anti-inflation law this summer to address rising fuel and food prices and increase distribution to low-income households to raise pensions.
France’s economic growth stopped unexpectedly in the first quarter due to a sharp decline in consumer spending, as inflation has reduced household purchasing power, INSEE said in another GDP report.
INSEE said in its monthly inflation report that annual inflation as measured by the French CPI has risen from 4.5% in March to 4.8%, the highest since November 1985.
While the domestic index is more closely tracked in France, the EU Harmony Index is used abroad to compare inflation rates between countries using the euro.
Lee Thomas
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