The French Government has announced on Monday an anti-inflation agreement with the main distribution chains so that they offer, for a quarter -until June-, a basket of basic products at the lowest possible price. The measure has been presented by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire.
The pact with supermarkets has become necessary after food prices have registered a year-on-year increase of 14.5%. This is a political necessity of the Government, especially at a very delicate moment of social unrest and protests over the pension reform. Just tomorrow Tuesday there will be a new day of strike and demonstrations throughout the country.
Le Maire said that it will be the companies that will choose, in each case, the basket of products that will benefit from the reduced price. They will absorb the cost of the reduction by cutting commercial margins. Le Maire spoke of hundreds of millions of euros. The minister also announced that a food aid check for people with less income and in a precarious situation will be launched in the coming months.
Some large supermarket chains, such as Système U, already have a list of products with limited prices, in their case it affects 150. The Intermarché group offers 500 products “at attractive prices”. Monoprix and Carrefour have already taken equivalent measures. In order for the consumer to quickly identify that it is a product included in the campaign, a special logo will be created. In June there will be a review of the measure according to the progress of inflation.
The President of the Republic himself, Emmanuel Macron, had requested a gesture from the supermarkets to relieve the most modest consumers. He previously did the same with the oil company TotalEnergies, which finally agreed to put a cap of 1.99 euros, throughout the year 2023, for the price of gasoline and diesel.
