In April, the UK’s retail price index decrease headed back to a level last seen in 1960.
For the French, it’s now back to 1957.
As Dow Jones reports:
PARIS (Dow Jones)–The French annual inflation rate in April dropped to its lowest level for over half a century on a sharp fall in energy prices, which was only partly offset by an increase in food and services prices, data released by French national statistics bureau Insee showed Wednesday.
The April consumer price index in the euro zone’s second-largest economy rose 0.1% on the year, Insee said. This was the smallest annual increase since 1957. The monthly inflation rate was 0.2%. The data matched expectations from economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. “This stabilization [of price levels] is mainly due to base effects,” said Nicolas Bouzou, of think tank Asteres. “Starting in March and April 2008, prices started to rise more sharply in France.”
Energy prices continued to fall in April, down 13.8% on the year and unchanged on the month, due to the base effect of skyrocketing oil prices a year earlier. In April, oil prices were up 2.7% on the month, but down 22.4% on the year, Insee said.
Ahh, 1957 … the year Yves Saint Laurent became the head designer of the House of Dior, saving the house from financial ruin, and when Maurice Chevalier recorded the iconic french-sounding but not actually french song “Thank heavens for little girls” for the musical Gigi. Ah, what a year.
Related link:
Back to 1960 - FT Alphaville