Separate data showed Japan’s jobless rate hit a three-year low of 2.4% in January, suggesting intensifying labour shortages will prod companies to raise wages and help ease the pain households are feeling from rising costs of living.
The readouts cast doubt on the Bank of Japan’s view the recent cost-driven inflation will prove temporary, and will likely keep the central bank under pressure to phase out its massive monetary stimulus, analysts say.
“Inflation in the capital has fallen less than we expected last month, which suggests some upside risks to our forecast for inflation to fall below the Bank of Japan’s 2% target by mid-year,” said Darren Tay, Japan economist at Capital Economics.
Core consumer prices in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide trends, rose 3.3% in February from a year earlier, matching market forecasts and slowing from a nearly 42-year high of 4.3% hit in January, government data showed on Friday.
The Tokyo core consumer…
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