Tokyo: Consumer prices in Japan rose 1 per cent from a year earlier in October amid rising energy prices, according to a government report issued on Thursday. The figure represented the 22nd straight month of increase, said the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but was still far from a 2 per cent target set by the Bank of Japan more than five years ago.
The cost of kerosene jumped 25.8 per cent and that of petrol climbed 17.8 per cent, the ministry’s report showed.
The core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, stood at 101.6 against a base of 100 for 2015.
In 2013, the central bank started to introduce aggressive monetary easing measures aimed at hitting its 2 per cent inflation target within two years to overcome deflation, which had plagued the world’s third-largest economy for more than a decade.
In October, the central bank cut its inflation outlook for the current financial year for the third straight quarter.
The nation’s inflation is now expected to rise 0.9 per cent for the year through March 2019, it said.
The rate is not expected to hit 2 per cent even in the 2020 fiscal year, according to the bank. — dpa
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