French preliminary inflation at +0.8% in August, slightly below forecast

(Reuters) -French consumer prices rose slightly less than anticipated in August, preliminary data from statistics agency INSEE showed on Friday.

France’s harmonised inflation rate, adjusted for comparison with other euro zone countries, was +0.8% year-on-year in August.

A Reuters poll of 19 analysts had on average expected a rate of +0.9%, with estimates ranging from +0.7% to +1.0%.

(Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes; Editing by Matt Scuffham)