French consumer prices rose 4.1% in February from a year earlier. Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast . French inflation accelerated more than expected, adding a further complication to the European Central Bank’s efforts to smoothly withdraw crisis-era stimulus amid economic disruption from Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Consumer prices in the euro area’s second largest economy rose 4.1% in February from a year earlier after 3.3% in January, national statistics agency Insee said. That’s the strongest reading since the data series started in 1997. Economists had forecast a 3.7% advance. France’s inflation report is the first measure of how prices have evolved in the currency bloc this month — a key trend the ECB will examine when it charts its policy course at a March 10 meeting. Figures for Germany and Italy will be published on […]