Inflation jumps to 5.2% on average over 2022, 5.9% in December

It runs, it runs, inflation. Consumer price inflation rose to an annual average of 5.2% over the whole of 2022, INSEE announced on Friday while confirming that it rose to 5.9% in December. , compared to December 2021.

The annual average takes into account the inflation levels of the 12 months of a calendar year, and price increases were lower at the start of the year last year, hence the difference between the two rates. Average inflation was 1.6% in 2021.

Core inflation

Over the whole of last year, “the rise in inflation results from an acceleration in energy prices (+23.1% after 10.5% in 2021) and food (+6 .8% after +0.6%), and to a lesser extent manufactured goods and services, which increased by 3%”, detailed the National Institute of Statistics in its press release.

Core inflation, which excludes transitory price changes to focus on deep inflationary trends, is also rising very sharply, rising from 1.1% on average in 2021 to 3.9% in 2022. The target of the European Central Bank (ECB) is inflation stabilized at around 2%. For a long time, price increases were below this target in the euro zone, before suddenly exceeding it in 2022.

An increase driven by energy prices

At the end of the year, the rise in prices fell to 5.9% over one year in December, against 6.2% in October and November, with core inflation over one year remaining stable compared to November, at 5.3%. Year on year, the increase was still driven in December by energy prices, up 15.1% compared to December 2021, and food prices, which increased by 12.1%.

Over one month, the consumer price index fell by 0.1% in December, due to the fall in energy prices, which fell by 3.6%. But food prices rose 0.5% from November. Finally, the harmonized consumer price index (HICP), used for comparisons on a European scale, increased by 6.7% in December, against 7.1% in November, also confirmed INSEE. Over one month, the HICP fell by 0.1%, against a rise of 0.4% in November.

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