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Fibre2Fashion
14-07-2025
- Business
- Fibre2Fashion
French consumer prices up 0.4% MoM, 1% YoY in Jun 2025
The French consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.4 per cent month on month (MoM) in June this year after a 0.1-per cent MoM drop in May, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). The prices of energy also rose by 0.6 per cent MoM after a 1.4-per cent drop in May, driven by those of petroleum products. The French consumer price index rose by 0.4 per cent month on month (MoM) and 1 per cent YoY in June after a 0.1-per cent MoM drop and a 0.7-per cent YoY rise in May, official data show. Prices of manufactured goods rose by 0.1 per cent MoM and fell by 0.2 per cent YoY in June. The prices of clothing and footwear increased slightly by 0.2 per cent YoY in June after being stable in May. Prices of manufactured goods rose by 0.1 per cent MoM in June as in May. Seasonally-adjusted consumer prices also rose in June by 0.4 per cent, after remaining stable in May. Year on year (YoY), consumer prices went up by 1 per cent in the month after a 0.7-per cent YoY rise in May this year. This rise was due to an acceleration in service prices and by a less sustained fall in energy prices (minus 6.7 per cent after minus 8.0 per cent). Prices of manufactured products fell by 0.2 per cent YoY in June, at the same rate as in May. Core inflation stood at 1.2 per cent YoY in June after 1.1 per cent in May. Prices of energy fell by 6.7 per cent YoY in June 2025 after a 8-per cent YoY drop in May. The prices of clothing and footwear increased slightly by 0.2 per cent YoY in June after been stable in May, while those of furniture and furnishings rebounded by 0.5 per cent in the month after a 0.5-per cent YoY drop in May. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Euractiv
14-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
France walks a budget tightrope as Bayrou prepares 2026 austerity plan
PARIS – The €40 billion austerity plan for 2026 that French Prime Minister François Bayrou will unveil on Tuesday is expected to be rejected by all opposition parties. This could lead to the fall of the government when parliament votes on the proposal in autumn. At 16:00 on Tuesday, Bayrou will present his first budgetary orientations for 2026. For weeks, government ministers have taken turns to face media and prepare expectations, emphasising the catastrophic state of public finances and the urgent need to rein in public spending. According to figures released by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) on 26 June, public debt rose by a further €40.5 billion in the first three months of the year, reaching €3,345.8 billion at the end of the first quarter – equivalent to 114% of gross domestic product (GDP). To reduce the deficit from 5.4% of GDP this year to 4.6% next year – and to fall within the European 3% limit by 2029 – the Prime Minister intends to propose a €40 billion adjustment to the 2026 budget. Stressing this will come without any 'indiscriminate tax hikes', the move will necessarily entail a reduction in public spending. Measures under consideration include reforms to unemployment insurance and a reduction in ministerial budgets across the board. At the same time, increased defence spending has already been announced, the cost of servicing debt will go up, and France's contribution to the European Union (EU) budget will also grow. The government is also said to be counting on a 'freeze year', which would see social benefits – including unemployment insurance and pensions – maintained at 2025 levels, despite an expected inflation of 1.6% in 2026. This freeze could save around €5 billion. In an effort to win support, the Prime Minister met last week with representatives of the various political groups in the National Assembly. But he knows he is walking a tightrope. Whilst the scale of financial challenge is almost universally acknowledged, there is no consensus on how to address it. A trench war in the making The supply-side economic approach championed by Bayrou – and by all of Emmanuel Macron's prime ministers before him – is denounced by the left-wing parties, who criticise the tax breaks granted to businesses. 'Since 2017, public spending has fallen relative to GDP, so it's not spending that has made the deficit worse – it's the tax cuts,' MP Éric Coquerel (LFI), who chairs the National Assembly's Finance Committee, told Euractiv. 'The trade war launched by Donald Trump calls instead for massive investment in industry, as the Germans are preparing to do,' Coquerel added. He fears a 'decoupling' of the French economy and an 'explosion' in inequality. LFI is expected to reject the proposed budget this autumn, which will leave the government no choice but to try, once more, to negotiate with the Socialists. The latter had agreed not to vote down the 2025 budget in exchange for reopening the file on pension reform. But the failed negotiations between trade unions and employers have put Bayrou's government on thin ice and the Socialists now plan a more combative stance towards the government's proposals. Socialist senator Patrick Kanner has pushed for a greater tax burden on higher-income individuals: 'If the effort demanded of the wealthiest is just a minor tax raising €1 to €1.5 billion, that won't be acceptable,' he warned. The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) has criticised the lack of 'structural savings'. 'Proposing a 'freeze year' is like saying 'I'm doing nothing, but it's less bad than doing something',' RN MP Philippe Lottiaux told Euractiv. RN favours 'reducing the cost of immigration' by tying social benefits to 'nationality and employment criteria'. Alongside this, the party calls to renegotiate France's contribution to the EU budget, due to rise from €23.8 billion in 2025 to €29.2 billion in 2026. Bayrou on borrowed time RN has warned that it will not hesitate to bring down the government this autumn if it insists on pushing through a budget that 'undermines the purchasing power of the French people'. As with the toppling of the Michel Barnier government last December, the far-right could be joined by all left-wing parties. 'The budgetary situation is concerning, but political instability is even more so, as it prevents any long-term planning of savings measures,' Mathieu Plane, Deputy Director of the French Economic Observatory (OFCE), told Euractiv. This is a particular concern as a long-term budget course is crucial to retain market confidence, he added. On 4 July, the yield on five-year Italian government bonds (BTPs) fell below that of French bonds (OATs), at 2.65% versus 2.67%, respectively. By contrast, experts observe the political stability in Italy, which boosts its credit rating.
LeMonde
09-07-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
Poverty and inequality in France reach highest levels in 30 years
Every year for nearly three decades, France's statistics bureau, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), has measured poverty and inequality among the population of mainland France living in regular housing. Indicators reached unprecedented levels in 2023, according to figures published Monday, July 7: Around 9.8 million people were living below the monetary poverty threshold, which is set at 60% of the median monthly income, or €1,288 for a single person. Around 650,000 people fell into poverty in 2024, the largest increase since the current method of calculation was introduced in 1996. The poverty rate reached 15.4%, up from 14.4% in 2022, marking both a record level and a record jump. Inequality also rose: The wealthiest 20% had incomes 4.5 times higher than the poorest 20%, a historic gap for the past 30 years. The Gini coefficient, another measure of inequality, is now close to its maximum, which was reached in 2011. "You'd have to go back to the early 1970s to find slightly greater inequality," said Michel Duée, head of the department of household resources and living conditions at INSEE. "Living standards, supported by a favorable job market, rose faster than inflation, except for those on the lowest incomes," he said.
Fibre2Fashion
05-07-2025
- Business
- Fibre2Fashion
May French textile-RMG-leather goods manufacturing output up 3.3% YoY
French manufacturing output went down again by 1 per cent month on month (MoM) in May this year after a 0.7-per cent MoM drop in April. The output drop was more moderate in the whole industry: minus 0.5 per cent MoM in May after minus 1.4 per cent MoM in April. Output fell MoM in most industries in the month, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). Over a year, manufacturing output was down by 0.4 per cent in the country. French manufacturing output went down again by 1 per cent month on month (MoM) in May after a 0.7-per cent MoM drop in April; output fell in most industries. Over a year, manufacturing output was down by 0.4 per cent in the country. The output in the manufacturing of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and related products fell by 0.3 per cent MoM and increased by 3.3 per cent YoY in May 2025. Cumulative output in the March-May 2025 quarter was lower by 0.4 per cent year on year (YoY) in the manufacturing sector, while it dropped by 0.8 per cent YoY in the whole industry, an INSEE release said. The output in the manufacturing of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and related products fell by 0.3 per cent MoM and increased by 3.3 per cent YoY in May 2025, an INSEE release said. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
LeMonde
27-06-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
French debt surges to new record, but IMF intervention ruled out
French debt is rising, and rising very quickly. Despite the government's efforts, the freezing of certain funds and promises of massive savings, France's public debt increased by another €40.5 billion in just three months, reaching €3.346 trillion at the end of March, according to figures released on Thursday, June 26, by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE,). In one year, the debt, described by Prime Minister François Bayrou as the country's public enemy number one, grew by €185 billion, or 6%. Could this massive debt burden soon force France under the supervision of Brussels, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)? Could this troika impose an austerity plan on France, as happened to Greece in the 2010s when it was revealed the country had falsified its accounts and its budget deficit was three times higher than the official figure? For several weeks, the government has been wielding this dramatic threat as Bayrou prepares to unveil highly anticipated fiscal recovery measures, expected after July 14. "If we do not make these choices now, our creditors or the IMF will impose them on us," warned Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin in Le Journal du Dimanche on June 7. "This is the last moment to be courageous." De Montchalin hammered home the message again on radio station RTL on June 10: "There is a risk of being placed under the supervision of international institutions, European institutions or our creditors."
