French inflation falls to 38-month low

France's EU harmonized inflation decelerated to the lowest level in more than three years in February, data released by statistical office Insee showed Wednesday.

Inflation as per the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) dropped to 1.2 percent in February from 1.4 percent in January. Economists expected inflation to ease to 1.3 percent. The latest figure was the lowest since December 2009, when prices moved up 1 percent.

On a monthly basis, the HICP rose 0.3 percent in February, after falling 0.6 percent in the previous month. Economists were looking for a faster increase of 0.4 percent.

At the same time, inflation as per the consumer price index dropped to 1 percent in February from 1.2 percent in January. Economists had forecast the figure to remain unchanged from the previous month.

Month-on-month, consumer prices edged up 0.3 percent in February, slower than 0.5 percent rise expected by economists. This followed a 0.5 percent fall in January.

Core inflation, adjusted for volatile items, weakened modestly to 0.6 percent in February from 0.8 percent in January. Month-on-month, core consumer prices dropped 0.2 percent.