French government says has a deal on the anti-inflation shopping basket

In order to assist consumers cope with the rise of food prices, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on Monday that he had achieved an agreement with the major grocery chains in the nation.

Le Maire said at a press conference following his meeting with retail executives that food merchants had promised to provide customers with “the lowest possible pricing” for a period of three months on a variety of goods.

According to Le Maire, the reductions will cost shops “hundreds of millions” of euros.

Retailers and government authorities will reevaluate the situation starting in June, at which point they could ask major consumer goods suppliers to renegotiate prices with stores.

According to preliminary data from the INSEE statistics authority, the annual inflation rate in France unexpectedly increased to 7.2% in February from 7.0% in January, partially as a result of rising food costs.

According to INSEE’s projection, the inflation rate for food would stay around 13% for the first half of the year.

The government’s most recent initiative to express political support for people with lesser incomes is the basket of anti-inflation foods.

The government first wanted to create a standardised basket of necessities, but stores resisted so they could choose which goods would be included.