While the inflation rate in Germany and the euro area has broken the 10 percent mark, it has fallen in France for the second month in a row.

According to initial estimates by the national statistics office, Insee, it fell to 5.6 percent in September.

Consumer prices rose 5.9 percent in August and 6.1 percent in July.

Compared to the rest of the euro zone, these are very low values, even if you look at the slightly higher figures from the European statistics agency Eurostat.

Niklas Zaboji

Economic correspondent in Paris

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The increase in food prices also accelerated in France, rising from 7.9 percent in August to 9.9 percent in September.

However, this was more than offset by the slower increase in energy prices, which fell from 22.7 to 17.8 percent.

Energy prices have even fallen for the third month in a row, Insee wrote.

The reason for this is lower prices for petroleum products.

Some tourism-related services have also become cheaper due to seasonal factors.

The main reason for the slowdown in inflation in France over the past few months is the large number of government interventions in the energy markets.

A year ago, when Berlin was still primarily concerned with the consequences of the federal elections, the government in Paris introduced a gas price cap for private households.

It applies to the state-regulated tariff, which only some of the French have, but to which many market tariffs are also indexed.

750 euros savings per year

Once introduced, the French government has continued to extend the gas price cap over the past few months, thereby shielding citizens from the explosion in wholesale prices.

Even small companies with an annual consumption of less than 150 megawatt hours of gas can now enjoy this protective shield.

Their monthly statement also shows the same price as in October 2021. The French state pays for the losses incurred by the energy suppliers through the sale of gas below the wholesale price.

The same applies to electricity costs.

Here, too, the government in Paris announced a price brake a year ago, protecting citizens from a surge in inflation at an early stage.

Introduced in February this year, the increase in household electricity prices this year is limited to 4 percent.

The state also pays the additional costs of the energy suppliers.

According to the government, the gas price cap and 5 billion euros the electricity price brake will cost him around 11 billion euros this year, a total of 16 billion euros.

For a four-person household in a gas-heated 90 square meter apartment, there were savings of around 750 euros.

There is no threat of a catch-up effect for the time being

From the outset there was criticism of the bold market interventions in France, as they thwart energy-saving efforts, benefit even the highest-income citizens and were politically motivated not least by the spring elections.

This also applies to the tank discount introduced shortly before the presidential election in April, starting at 18 cents per liter of fuel, which was even increased to 30 cents on September 1st and is currently being increased by a further 20 cents at the approximately 3,500 French filling stations of the energy company Totalenergies (formerly Total). Cent is flanked.

But in terms of inflation, the market interventions are having an effect, even the central bankers admit, not least because of the psychological effect.

The statisticians from Insee also recently calculated: “Without the electricity and gas price cap, inflation would have been 3.1 percentage points higher between the second quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2022.”

The French government sees this as confirmation of its course.

"We are the only country in the euro zone that has anticipated increases in gas and electricity prices," boasted France's finance and economy minister, Bruno Le Maire.

There is no threat of a catch-up effect for the time being: in mid-September, the government announced that it would continue to regulate gas and electricity price increases in the coming year, albeit not quite as generously with 15 percent each.

This is said to cost the state a further around 45 billion euros, with the government calculating 16 billion euros less income such as the skimming off of excess profits.