Portfolios are not about to rest in the euro zone. Driven by energy prices, inflation started to rise again in December, to 2.9% over one year, after 2.4% in November, Eurostat announced this Friday. The figure is in line with the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and reassures the European Central Bank (ECB) in the idea that the fight is not over to bring the rise in consumer prices back to its 2% target.
The rebound in inflation is solely linked to a lesser decline in energy prices in December. They fell by 6.7% compared to the same month last year, but in November this drop had reached 11.5%. The rise in food prices (including alcohol and tobacco) declined to 6.1% in December, after 6.9% the previous month.
France among the most affected countries
But the figure most scrutinized by the financial markets and the ECB is that of underlying inflation, corrected for the very volatile prices of energy and food. This indicator, considered more representative, fell in December to 3.4%, after 3.6% in November, in line with analysts’ forecasts, an encouraging signal. If the increase in service prices remained at 4% year-on-year in December, that of industrial goods fell to 2.5%, or 0.4 points less than the previous month.
Belgium and Italy recorded the lowest inflation rate in December, at 0.5%, among the 20 countries sharing the single currency. Slovakia (6.6%) and Austria (5.7%) saw prices increase the fastest. France, which had contained inflation better than its partners in 2022, is now among the most affected countries, with a rate of 4.1% in the last month of 2023, compared to 3.8% in Germany.