BOJ inflation gauge at zero as cheap oil offsets efforts to reflate economy

Tokyo

THE Bank of Japan's (BOJ) main gauge of inflation slowed to zero, as cheaper oil prices counter governor Haruhiko Kuroda's effort to reflate the economy.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food and effects of last year's sales tax increase were unchanged in April from a year earlier. Including the levy, core prices rose 0.3 per cent, the statistics bureau said on Friday. That was more than a 0.2 per cent gain forecast by economists.