Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 27, 2026
1 min readLast updated: April 2, 2026
Add as preferred source on GooglePreliminary INSEE data shows France’s February 2026 inflation rose to 1.0% YoY (1.1% HICP), above forecasts, driven by weaker energy declines and rising food, services, and tobacco prices.
Feb 27 (Reuters) - French consumer prices rose more than expected in February, preliminary data from statistics agency INSEE showed on Friday, a sign of acceleration after they slowed to their lowest in more than five years in January.
France's harmonized inflation rate, adjusted for comparison with other euro zone countries, was 1.1% year-on-year in February. A Reuters poll of 14 analysts had expected a median rate of 0.7%, with estimates ranging from 0.6% to 1.2%.
The euro zone harmonised prices rose 0.4% in January, their lowest rate since December 2020.
The February increase was partly due to a lower than anticipated decline in energy prices, INSEE said. France introduced in February 2025 an average reduction of 15% in regulated electricity tariffs for low-volume consumers.
A slowing decline in the prices of manufactured goods and an acceleration in price increases for food, services and tobacco also weighed, the preliminary data showed.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Vera Dvorakova, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 1.1% year‑on‑year in February 2026, up from 0.4% in January.
Inflation was higher than expected due to a less pronounced decline in energy prices, as well as accelerating price rises in food, services, and tobacco, while manufactured goods declined more slowly.
Energy prices fell by around 3.0% year‑on‑year in February—as opposed to −7.6% in January—partly due to base effects from last year’s steep electricity tariff reductions.
Consumer prices rose by 0.7% month‑on‑month in February 2026, following a 0.3% drop in January, driven by seasonal rebounds in transport services and manufactured goods.
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