(Reuters) -France’s harmonised annual inflation rate, adjusted for comparison with other euro zone countries, edged down to was 0.8% in August from 0.9% in July, French statistics office INSEE said on Friday, in line with both the prelimenary reading and a Reuters poll of analysts.
The figure supports comments from Bank of France Governor and European Central Bank governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who said inflation is under control in a statement on Tuesday after euro zone inflation edged up to 2.1%.
INSEE attributed the August figure primarily to a slowdown in services prices, which showed growth of 2.1% year on year, down from July’s reading of 2.5%.
Prices for manufactured goods weakened by 0.3%, against a 0.2% decline in July. Clothing and footwear prices were up 1.4% year on year, against 1.9% a month earlier, reflecting lower discounting in July sales than in the previous year, INSEE said.
The ECB said on Thursday that it would leave interest rates unchanged, describing the euro zone eocnomy as being in a “good place”, adding that further easing could not be ruled out in the longer term.
(Reporting by Jakob Van CalsterEditing by David Goodman)
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