Should we see the effects of the strengthening of the curfew, that of the shift in sales, of the cold snap, or a little of all that?
Household consumption has in any case "markedly" fell back in France in January, falling 4.6% compared to December, according to data from INSEE reported on Friday.
This decline stems from the sharp drop of 12.9% in the consumption of manufactured goods, while energy consumption increased by 6.3% due to the cold, and that of foodstuffs increased by 1 , 7%, specifies the National Institute of Statistics.
Inflation, for its part, slowed to 0.4% over one year in February, against 0.6% in January, according to a provisional indicator of the rise in consumer prices in France.
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In addition, INSEE is revising - very slightly - its estimate of the recession in the French economy in 2020, which fell by 8.2% (a drop of 8.3% was previously estimated).
This confirms the historic recession suffered by the country as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.