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French supermarket giant E.Leclerc has announced it will sell fuel at a lower price at the weekends, in a bid to “protect the purchasing power of people in France�.

CEO Michel-Edouard Leclerc the chain would sell petrol “at cost price…from this weekend�, as the summer holiday period begins.

It will last until August 13 and apply at the supermarket’s 696 service stations to help with “tensions in the market�, he said.

Mr Leclerc said the measure was a “helping hand� so that drivers who are planning long journeys to go on holiday or to see their family will not be penalised by high fuel prices. He said the offer was “open to everyone� and that “you do not need to go into the store� to benefit.

E.Leclerc has already had several other cost-price fuel campaigns, including in March this year. It also ran a similar offer in summer last year, but only during the ‘crossover’ weekend between July and August.

In a statement, the supermarket said: “This is the first time that the brand has run this operation during seven consecutive weekends during the major [summer] holidays.�

It said that it wanted to “protect the purchasing power of drivers…[as prices] are seeing a downward trend, but remain too high for many drivers, in the context of still-high prices everywhere else.�

Fuel prices had started to drop over the past few weeks and had stabilised at €1.66-€1.67 per litre.

However, costs began to rise again last week and had crossed the threshold of €1.70 per litre. SP95-E10 specifically remains stable, but still high, at more than €1.84 per litre.

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