PARIS, April 30 (Reuters) - Food price inflation in
France - which has been a major concern for consumers - should
ease off by September, said government minister Olivia Gregoire
on Sunday.
"By the time people come back from their holidays in
September, we will have a visible decrease in the prices you see
on the shelves and in terms of food price inflation," Gregoire,
who is a government minister responsible for small-and-medium
sized enterprises (SMEs), told France Inter radio.
Gregoire's comments echoed those from Bank of France
governor and European Central Bank member Francois Villeroy de
Galhau, who said earlier this month that he expected food price
inflation to start easing in the second half of this year.
Data published on April 28 showed the French economy grew
0.2% in the first quarter, despite strikes against the
government's pension reform bill, but inflation remained
stubbornly high.
France's headline inflation level rose to 5.9% in April from
5.7% in March. The French inflation level stood at 6.9%, as
measured by a European Union-harmonised consumer price index.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume;
Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
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