Fuels: the price of diesel down “by 18 cents on average” since the start of the month, indicates Serge Papin

The first results are there. After putting ten million barrels of diesel from its strategic stocks on the market at the beginning of the month, France has since seen the price of diesel fall day after day. “Across France, prices are falling by 18 cents on average,” Serge Papin, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Purchasing Power, explained on Tuesday at RMC. This Tuesday, according to Fig Data calculations based on public data from the Ministry of the Economy, motorists pay approximately 2.20 euros per liter on average. A clear improvement compared to around 2.37 euros on October 31.

This decline could even become more pronounced. For the moment, four out of five service stations have been able to pass on this boost, “with price reductions of 22 cents on average”, underlined Serge Papin. The others still have to finish emptying their stocks acquired at high prices. The improvement could, however, only be temporary. The ten million barrels put on the market by the State will be sold after three months. When questioned, Serge Papin did not exclude that new volumes of diesel could be released in the future. “We will continue if necessary. For the moment, we are only putting 10% of strategic stocks,” he explained.

“Thawing of load reduction thresholds”

Another subject at the heart of the news, the increase in the minimum wage decided by the government. Monday November 9, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that the minimum wage would be increased by 24 euros (1.6%) on December 1 to reach 1,502 euros net per month for full time. A decision which caused an outcry within employers, particularly among SMEs. Beyond this 24 euros net increase, business leaders will see their costs increase by 30 euros. The cause is an increase in employer contributions. To reduce the bill, Serge Papin opened the door to a “thaw of the thresholds for reducing charges”.

Concretely, contributions are low when the salary is low, and increase gradually. An increase in the minimum wage, by inflating the salary, therefore automatically causes an increase in costs. The idea would therefore be to review the thresholds above which the deductions increase, so as to avoid this double penalty for employers. However, this could quickly become extremely costly for public finances.