Japan’s Inflation Highlights Risks Facing BOJ

Japan’s inflation slowed more than expected in August, highlighting the risks facing Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda in his push for prices to rise 2 percent.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo, undershooting the median projection for a 3.2 percent increase in a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists. Stripped of the effect of April’s sales tax increase, inflation was 1.1 percent, according to the BOJ’s estimates.

Weak consumption after the tax rise is weighing on inflation, adding weight to most economists’ views that the nation won’t achieve the 2 percent price target. Kuroda has said that prices are on track to reach it around the year starting April 2015.

Bloomberg

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