Inflation is lower in France than in the other major economies of the euro zone, which is the advantage in terms of purchasing power and competitiveness, said Thursday the governor of the Banque de France François Villeroy de Galhau in an interview with AFP.
Compared to other countries in the euro zone, the gap widened further in favor of France in March, observed Mr. Villeroy de Galhau.
The harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP), which serves as a comparison on a European scale, increased over one year in March by 5.1% in France and 7.6% in Germany, according to provisional figures published respectively by INSEE and Destatis.
The inflation differential between the two largest economies in the euro zone, which was 1.3 points in February, thus fell to 2.5 points in March.
This is a favorable element for the French economy: it means that the purchasing power of the French is less affected than that of the average European and it is favorable to French competitiveness because our costs in France are rising less quickly than elsewhere in the euro zone, according to the Governor of the Banque de France.
Also for the month of March, Spain experienced its strongest price increase in 37 years, 9.8% over one year, and Italy in almost 31 years, 6.7%.
There is a structural advantage of France, it is our energy mix and the weight of nuclear energy, but there is also a more significant tariff shield than in the other countries, explains Mr. Villeroy de Galhau.
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According to the latest INSEE economic report, the tariff shield on energy prices put in place by the French government made it possible to reduce the rise in consumer prices by 1.5 percentage points in February .
The Governor of the Banque de France underlined that inflation in France was mainly related to energy prices, while for the rest of the French consumer basket, we are on price increases which remain quite close to 2 %.
Also, thanks to the monetary policy of the European Central Bank, which announced on March 10 that it would cease its debt purchases next summer, economic players can count on inflation returning to around 2% by 2024 at most. later, according to the governor.