Paris, Oct 14 (IANS): Inflation in France dropped 0.4 percent in September due to a decline in service and energy costs, the country's Statistics Institute Bureau, Insee said on Wednesday.

According to the Paris-based statistic office, the consumer prices index (CPI), a key gauge for inflation, rose by 0.3 percent in August. On yearly basis, inflation rate was stable, Xinhua news agency reported.

"In September, the main contributors to the decrease in the CPI came from a seasonal downturn in some services related to tourism after the school holiday period and a further drop in prices of petroleum products," Insee said in its monthly economic report.

Service costs lost 1.6 percent over the period while those of transportation and communication declined by 4.6 percent compared to August data.

For the fourth month in a row, energy prices fell by one percent due to a drop in petroleum product prices, according to Insee figures.

However, the price decreases were offset by a 0.5 percent increase in food prices. Prices of manufactured products grew 1.4 percent.

French officials set the country's inflation rate at 0.9 percent for the whole of 2015.