An unexpected drop in inflation in France for the second month

Data on Friday showed inflation in France unexpectedly slowed for the second consecutive month in September, deviating from the trend in its neighbor Germany and the broader eurozone, supported by a slowdown in the rise in energy and services prices.

France’s annual inflation rate fell to 6.2 percent in September from 6.6 percent a month earlier, the National Institute of Statistics said, missing the median forecast of economists in a Reuters poll for a slight acceleration to 6.7 percent.

Inflation peaked in July at 6.8 percent in the euro zone’s second-largest economy, which is doing better than its neighbors at taming price hikes. However, some economists warn that France’s massive spending on blanket protection for families reverses the problem.