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What is the story about?
Tokyo’s inflation eased more than expected, as pressure from food and energy diminished compared to previous months. However, it is being said that this is unlikely to deter the Bank of Japan from further rate hikes.
The Japanese capital, which is also at the centre of the largest metropolitan region in the world, saw its consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rise 2.3% in December from a year earlier
The CPI slowed sharply from 2.8% in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on Friday.
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This is the first time since August that Tokyo has seen a deceleration in these key figures.
This decline is largely reflective of softer food price gains and falls in energy costs. This decline in inflation has come as a relief, as economists had expected the reading to slow to 2.5%.
A deeper measure that excludes energy fell to 2.6%, while the total inflation gauge decreased to 2% from 2.7% in the prior year.
Tokyo's statistics are a leading predictor of inflation patterns across the country. The Tokyo Metropolitan Region has an estimated population of around 40 million.
This comes a week after the Japanese Central Bank, in a unanimous decision, voted to lift the policy rate to 0.75%, keeping up with its recent trend of spiking interest rates, even as other major economies and their central banks cut benchmark rates, making Japan and its BoJ an outlier.
The recent hike has taken the benchmark rate to the highest level since 1995. During his announcement of the interest rate hike, BoJ Kazuo Ueda hinted at further monetary tightening, as despite a cooling in the inflation rate, the CPI for the capital city remains above the central bank's target of 2%
At the time of writing, the Japanese equity markets appear to have taken this news positively, as the marquee index, the Nikkei 225, is trading with gains of close to 1%, or more precisely 0.94% or 475.86 points, trading at 50,883.65.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
The Japanese capital, which is also at the centre of the largest metropolitan region in the world, saw its consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rise 2.3% in December from a year earlier
The CPI slowed sharply from 2.8% in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on Friday.
Also Read:Donald Trump says United States has launched strikes against ISIS targets in Northwest Nigeria
This is the first time since August that Tokyo has seen a deceleration in these key figures.
This decline is largely reflective of softer food price gains and falls in energy costs. This decline in inflation has come as a relief, as economists had expected the reading to slow to 2.5%.
A deeper measure that excludes energy fell to 2.6%, while the total inflation gauge decreased to 2% from 2.7% in the prior year.
Tokyo's statistics are a leading predictor of inflation patterns across the country. The Tokyo Metropolitan Region has an estimated population of around 40 million.
Tokyo's statistics are a leading predictor of inflation patterns across the country. The Tokyo Metropolitan Region has an estimated population of around 40 million.
This comes a week after the Japanese Central Bank, in a unanimous decision, voted to lift the policy rate to 0.75%, keeping up with its recent trend of spiking interest rates, even as other major economies and their central banks cut benchmark rates, making Japan and its BoJ an outlier.
The recent hike has taken the benchmark rate to the highest level since 1995. During his announcement of the interest rate hike, BoJ Kazuo Ueda hinted at further monetary tightening, as despite a cooling in the inflation rate, the CPI for the capital city remains above the central bank's target of 2%
At the time of writing, the Japanese equity markets appear to have taken this news positively, as the marquee index, the Nikkei 225, is trading with gains of close to 1%, or more precisely 0.94% or 475.86 points, trading at 50,883.65.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
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