FXStreet (Mumbai) – Japan’s government on Friday reported consumer price index was up 0.3 per cent from a year earlier in November. Consumer prices in Japan increased for the first time in five months in November. It was however down 0.3 per cent from October, according to official data. Excluding food and energy, the consumer price index rose 0.9 per cent. Hidenobu Tokuda, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute believes “The downward pressure from falling oil prices seems to have run its course, which helped core CPI rise.”
Japan’s core consumer prices rose 2.7 per cent in November from a year earlier, matching economists’ median estimate for a 2.7 per cent annual gain. The core inflation excluding food prices was 0.1 per cent. The core-core inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 2.1 per cent in the year to November.
Household spending in November however slipped, raising concerns whether the central bank’s expectations that increase in consumption will help the economy achieve its 2 per cent target, might fall flat. Household spending recorded the biggest fall in eight months in November, falling 2.9 per cent from a year earlier.
Incomes fell 1.4 per cent from the year before. It seems companies are not adhering to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders plea to raise wages and increase investment. Instead, companies are investing their profits in overseas markets.
Japan’s jobless rate increased in November, to 3.3 per cent from 3.1 per cent in October. It must be noted here that companies instead of raising wages have opted to add overtime or hire temporary help.
The current inflation in Japan is nowhere close to the BOJ’s 2 per cent inflation target. The BoJ recently initiated supplementary measures for its massive QQE program, to achieve inflation at “the earliest date possible.” Earlier this year, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank expects to meet its price goal around the six-month period through March 2017. However, the current data which shows weakening of household spending and income is weighing on sustained recovery in Japan. Tokuda feels “But consumer prices likely won’t rise as fast as the BoJ [Bank of Japan] projects.” The BOJ has stressed time and again that only increase in wages is a must for Japan to achieve price target as more income will increase the money that people can spend.
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)