PARIS: The French government plans to allow petrol stations to sell fuel at a loss, overriding a law from 1963, as it struggles to find new ways of containing inflation without adding to vast sums of public money already spent.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said in an interview with Le Parisien that the law would be suspended for a limited period of a “few months”.

Such a move would in theory allow greater competition between distributors, who could cut prices below costs and aim to make up lost margin with sales of other products and services.

“With this unprecedented measure, we will get tangible results for French people without subsidising fuel,” Borne said.

The French premier also ruled out the idea of government cutting fuel duties again.

Fuel prices are an explosive political issue in France, where an increase in levies in 2018 sparked the Yellow Vest movement that spiralled into months of protests over living standards.

While inflation has eased since earlier this year, energy costs pushed the rate back up last month. — Bloomberg