The French economy is set to emerge from the Covid pandemic with trend inflation significantly closer to 2%, something monetary authorities had unsuccessfully battled to achieve since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. According to updated forecasts from the country’s central bank, consumer price growth will settle at around 1.5% in 2023 and 2024, after the effect of surging energy prices tails off next year. Stripping out energy and food, the rate in the euro area’s second largest economy would be 1.7% in those two years compared to around 0.7% in the seven years preceding the pandemic. “The return ... (full story)