FILE PHOTO: A shopper looks at items at a supermarket in Tokyo February 26, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/
TOKYO: Core consumer prices in Japan’s capital Tokyo rose 2.1 per cent in June from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, marking the fastest pace of increase in seven years in a sign of broadening inflationary pressure from higher commodity and fuel costs.
The rise in Tokyo’s core consumer price index (CPI), which matched a median market forecast, followed a 1.9 per cent gain in the previous month. The pace of increase was the fastest since March 2015.
The data heightens the chance nationwide consumer prices will continue to rise in coming months. Japan’s nationwide core CPI rose 2.1 per cent in May from a year earlier, mainly due to the impact from higher fuel and raw material costs.
It stayed above the Bank of Japan’s 2 per cent target for a second straight month, following a 2.1 per cent rise in April, which was also the fastest pace of increase in seven years.