“Difficult months are ahead of us”.
Invited to the microphone of Sud Radio, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire confirmed the gloomy prospects for the purchasing power of the French people in the coming months.
“We expect a high level of inflation in the coming months, especially for basic food items, with double-digit inflation,” he said, adding that “difficult months are ahead of us” .
"However, we believe that inflation should start to decline by mid-2023, that is our estimate," he continued.
In the meantime, the minister "called on companies to increase wages" to compensate for the loss of purchasing power.
“When a company is able to pay dividends, it must be able to increase wages,” he further stressed.
Positive growth in 2023?
Incidentally, the Bercy tenant believes that, despite the turbulence, France will benefit from “positive growth” in 2023, without giving a precise figure.
In recent days, the government had forecast growth of 1% in 2023, a scenario considered too optimistic by many economic institutes.
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France's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, penalized in particular by sluggish household consumption in a context of high inflation which will peak at 7% over one year in early 2023, indicated INSEE.
After GDP growth of 0.2% in the third quarter, activity should suffer between October and December from a decline in industrial production and a sharp contraction in household consumption, its traditional driving force, under the energy price effect admittedly down, but remaining at high levels since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the start of 2023, the rebound in refining after the fall strikes, the restart of several nuclear reactors currently undergoing maintenance and a slight recovery in household consumption should put some oil in the wheels of the economy. .
