French firms see 4% wage inflation over 12 months - central bank survey

PARIS (Reuters) - French business executives see wage gains picking up over the next 12 months but remaining below expected inflation over the period, a quarterly survey by the central bank showed on Thursday.

The central bank said the median inflation expectation of firms surveyed at the end of August-early September stood at 5.0% one year from now, unchanged from three months ago but down from the current rate of 6% that executives are seeing now.

Meanwhile, executives expected base wages to rise 4% over the next 12 months, up from a median expectation of 3% three months ago, the central bank found.

Looking further out, executives expected inflation to be running at 3% in three to five years, unchanged from three months ago.

The Bank of France began surveying executives at 1,700 firms last November about price trends they are seeing in order to be less dependent on financial markets for a picture of forward inflation expectations.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas, Editing by William Maclean)