It all adds up

Written by Riviera Reporter

Prices rise all around.

No stock market tips here but we'll note all those small price rises which, taken together, have an impact on purchasing power. Food prices have been pushing upwards recently: the price of a baguette has gone up by 5� as have those pastries and pasta. This is likely to continue as world demand for wheat, maize and other crops increases. And there's a knock-on effect with meat prices (including poultry) as animal feeds become dearer. Chicken, for example, is now on average 6% more expensive than a year ago; beer also costs up to 10% more. It was a government decision, of course, that clapped a 6% rise on the price of cigarettes: a packet of Marlboro now comes at �5.30 (compared with �4.10 across the frontier in Italy).

Is there any good news? Well, the price of electricity only increased by 1.1%. And then there's the good news for bus travellers: as from January the 1st there'll be a standard fare on all routes which will be just �1 throughout the Alpes-Maritimes. As Christian Estrosi explained this measure, "we have to struggle to improve the environment in a department throttled by the car" (60% of carbon emissions in the area are from private cars). Hopefully, this new standard fare will have more of us hopping on a bus.

Meanwhile, putting fuel in your tank continues to cost more: Since January, the average cost of a litre of petrol has gone up from �1.13 to �1.47; for diesel from �1 to �1.20. It's worth looking at the government website - www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr - which shows pump prices at some 80% of service stations across France.

From Riviera Reporter issue 124 - Dec 2007/Jan 2008

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