French inflation accelerated to 2.1% in July as energy inflation reached 12.4%

France's national statistics institute (INSEE) said in a preliminary estimate on Friday, 31 July 2026, that the country's annual inflation rate accelerated to 2.1% in July 2026. The rate was 1.8% in June, and markets had expected it to hold at that level.

The main driver was faster growth in services prices (2.3% against 1.9% in June, particularly for accommodation and communication services) alongside a jump in energy inflation from 11.0% to 12.4%, attributed to higher gas and petroleum product prices. Working the other way, the decline in manufactured goods prices eased (minus 0.7% against minus 1.1%), while food inflation held steady at 0.9% and tobacco inflation was unchanged at 3.3%. On a monthly basis consumer prices rose 0.6%, rebounding from a 0.3% decline in June.

The EU harmonised inflation rate also rose, to 2.4% from 2.0%, and increased 0.6% on the month. France is the euro area's second largest economy, and its 12.4% energy inflation reading, like Germany's energy inflation jump in the same month, shows the West Asia energy shock feeding into European prices. That bears on the European Central Bank's interest rate path and through it on the euro to dollar exchange rate. The final estimate of French July inflation is due on 14 August 2026.