Japan’s core inflation accelerates, hits 16-month high in December
JAPAN’S core consumer prices rose 3.0 per cent in December from a year earlier to mark the fastest annual pace in 16 months, data showed on Friday (Jan 24), keeping alive market expectations that the central bank will keep raising ultra-low interest rates.
The data comes hours before the Bank of Japan (BOJ) concludes its two-day policy meeting, when it is expected to raise short-term interest rates to 0.5 per cent from 0.25 per cent.
The increase in the core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes the impact of volatile fresh food prices, matched a median market forecast and followed a 2.7 per cent gain in November.
It was the largest year-on-year increase since a 3.1 per cent gain marked in August 2023.
The rise was due largely to the phase-out of government subsidies aimed at curbing utility bills, and the impact of stubbornly high food prices as the weak yen kept import costs elevated.
An index stripping away the effect of both fresh food and fuel costs, which is closely watched by the BOJ as a better gauge of price pressure driven by domestic demand, rose 2.4 per cent in December from a year earlier, steady from November.
The BOJ ended negative interest rates in March and raised its short-term rate target to 0.25 per cent in July on the view Japan was on track to sustainably meet the bank’s 2 per cent inflation target.
Governor Kazuo Ueda has signalled readiness to raise rates further if broadening wage hikes underpin consumption and allow companies to keep hiking prices not just for goods but services. REUTERS
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