French preliminary inflation at 0.6% in May, below forecasts

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

France’s harmonized inflation rate, adjusted for comparison with other euro zone countries, was 0.6% year-on-year in May.

A Reuters poll of 21 analysts had on average expected a rate of 0.9%, with estimates ranging from 0.7% to 0.9%.

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)