French consumer confidence fell slightly in February from January -INSEE

PARIS (Reuters) – French consumer confidence fell back slightly in February compared to January, said the INSEE statistics body on Friday, which also revised up its earlier reading for the January figure.

INSEE’s February consumer confidence figure stood at 82 points. This was down from a revised figure of 83 points for January. The January figure had previously been given as 80 points.

The French government has consistently said it expects inflation to ease off from the second half of this year onwards, which in turn should help consumer spending, given how rising inflation has hit consumer confidence over the last year.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)