Consumer prices, excluding fresh produce, rose 2.4% year-on-year in July in Japan, reflecting accelerating inflation.
For the fourth consecutive month, Japan’s inflation topped 2%, excluding fresh produce, the target set by the Bank of Japan.
However, the Bank of Japan does not intend to tighten its very loose monetary policy for the moment, given that the current inflation in the country is mainly due to a temporary increase in energy prices.
In fact, also excluding energy prices, consumer prices rose 1.2 percent in July from 1 percent in June, according to data from the Interior Ministry.
But a large number of economists are expecting higher-than-expected inflation in Japan in the coming months.
A large number of companies in the country tend to reflect the rise in the cost of raw materials in their selling prices, which until this year was almost a taboo in the face of Japanese consumers who have been accustomed to stable and even low prices for decades.
The Bank of Japan also raised its inflation forecast at the end of July to 2.3 percent for the entire 2022/2023 fiscal year that began April 1.
His first estimate was 1.9 percent.
Source: AFP.