Overview
- Tokyo’s core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, rose 1.7% year over year in March, staying under the Bank of Japan’s 2% goal for a second month.
- The index that strips out both fresh food and fuel measured 2.3% in March after 2.5% in February, a level the BOJ monitors to judge trend inflation.
- Energy prices fell 7.5% from a year earlier as government subsidies lowered utility bills and tempered headline inflation.
- Analysts say the slowdown likely proves brief because a weak yen and higher oil linked to the Middle East conflict are lifting import costs and could revive price growth.
- The BOJ raised rates to 0.75% in December, and Governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament currency swings can strongly shape prices even as February data showed factory output down 2.1% and retail sales off 0.2%.