Japan’s corporate service inflation steady in February
JAPAN’S annual business-to-business service inflation held steady at 2.1 per cent in February, suggesting companies continued to pass on rising labour costs thanks to prospects for sustained wage gains.
The year-on-year rise in the services producer price index, which measures what companies charge each other for services, was unchanged from January, Bank of Japan (BOJ) data showed on Tuesday (Mar 26).
The data underscores the BOJ’s view that rising service prices will start to replace cost-push inflation as a key driver of price gains, and help sustain inflation around its 2 per cent target.
Service price moves are closely watched by the BOJ as a key indicator of whether wages and inflation are rising in tandem, which it set as one of the prerequisites for raising interest rates.
The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy last week, making a historic shift away from decades of massive monetary stimulus that was aimed at reviving the economy and quashing deflation. REUTERS
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
International
Chinese companies hit with US trade restrictions over spy balloon incident
China’s BYD will consider second Europe plant in 2025, executive says
Xi touts China-Hungary relations as a good blueprint for Europe
India’s 2023/24 fiscal deficit seen slightly better than projected: source
Bank of England holds rates at 16-year high, moves closer to first rate cut since 2020
US weekly jobless claims increase more than expected