TOKYO: Japan’s annual core consumer inflation ticked up only marginally in October despite the boost from a sales tax hike during the month, suggesting weak household sentiment is keeping companies from passing on the higher costs.
The data underscores the challenge the Bank of Japan faces in firing up inflation to its elusive 2 per cent target, as soft global demand and the US-China trade war cloud the outlook for the export-reliant economy.
The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil costs but excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.4 per cent in October from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
That matched a median market forecast and followed a 0.3 per cent increase in September.
Excluding the impact of the sales tax hike rolled out in October and the introduction of free childcare, annual core consumer inflation was 0.2 per cent in October, slowing from 0.3 per cent in September.— Reuters
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