Japan’s annual core consumer inflation ticked up in September but remained at half the pace of the central bank’s elusive 2 percent target, underscoring the challenge of meeting the price goal as escalating trade frictions cloud the economic outlook. While the rate of increase was the fastest in seven months
Japan’s annual core consumer inflation ticked up in September but remained at half the pace of the central bank’s elusive 2 percent target, underscoring the challenge of meeting the price goal as escalating trade frictions cloud the economic outlook.
While the rate of increase was the fastest in seven months, the gain was due mostly to higher oil costs with most other items rising only slightly, government data showed on Friday.
“We’re not seeing inflationary pressure build up. Private spending needs to increase more for core consumer inflation to accelerate beyond 1 percent,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. “Inflation will probably stagnate around current levels for some time.”
The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which strips away the effect of volatile fresh food costs, rose 1.0 percent in September from a year earlier, matching a median market forecast and ticking up from 0.9 percent in August.
The so-called core-core CPI, a more closely watched gauge the Bank of Japan uses that excludes the effect of both fresh food and energy costs, stood at 0.
