Macron Shields French From Some Price Pain Before Election

  • Statistics agency sees relief from energy-price caps
  • Slower growth, stronger inflation forecast for first quarter
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French President Emmanuel Macron’s price caps to stop a cost-of-living crisis colliding with April’s elections will slow inflation by about one percentage point at the start of 2022, according to Insee.

The government has earmarked 15.5 billion euros ($17.7 billion) to curb the impact of inflation for households, most of which for mechanisms to limit the effect of surging natural-gas and electricity prices. To deliver the price caps, Macron’s government has also forced state-controlled Electricite de France SA to sell more power at a discount.