Tokyo’s core CPI climbs at fastest rate in 7 years in April as energy prices surge
TOKYO, May 6– Core consumer prices in Tokyo increased at the fastest rate in more than seven years in April, jumping 1.9 percent owing to surging prices for crude oil and raw materials, the government said in a report on Friday. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Japanese capital’s core consumer price index, excluding fresh food…
TOKYO, May 6 (Xinhua) — Core consumer prices in Tokyo increased at the fastest rate in more than seven years in April, jumping 1.9 percent owing to surging prices for crude oil and raw materials, the government said in a report on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Japanese capital’s core consumer price index, excluding fresh food items because of their volatility, increased for the eight successive month, with April’s reading marking the largest increase since March 2015.
The statistics bureau highlighted that energy prices in the recording period surged 24.6 percent overall, with costs for electricity jumping 25.8 percent, those for gas leaping 27.6 percent, while kerosene prices soared 21.0 percent.
Tokyo’s CPI data serves as a barometer of the country’s broader core consumer prices.
The latest jump in CPI is nearing the Bank of Japan’s inflation goal of 2 percent, although strategists here have pointed out that such a rapid rise in inflation in the longer term could hurt corporate earnings as well as household incomes, as inflation here is not in tune with a rise in wages or an increase in private demand. Enditem