Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Japan Records Highest Increase in Commodity Prices in 4 Decades


Fri 25 Nov 2022 | 05:29 PM
Taarek Refaat

Official data issued by the Japanese government revealed on Friday that the prices of basic commodities of interest to consumers in the capital, Tokyo, rose by 3.6% in November compared to the same period in the previous year, recording the largest increase since 1982 amid the rise in energy and food prices, which have increasingly put pressure on household budgets.

The sharp decline in the value of the yen has inflated import costs for resource-poor Japan, as the core CPI rose in Tokyo, excluding fresh foodstuffs whose prices changed for the fifth month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a statement, reported by the official Japanese news agency “Kyodo”.

Kyodo reported that inflation data in Tokyo is seen as an indication of what to expect nationally, and the latest figure shows continued inflationary pressures, exceeding the central bank's 2% target for the sixth month in a row.

The pace of traders’ gains accelerated from 3.4% last October after the core CPI figure for November reached its highest level since 4.2% recorded in April 1982. Gains in price differences were greater than those that followed the state’s decisions to impose a consumption tax of 3% in 1989.

Accelerating inflation has complicated the central bank's efforts to continue its policies of ultra-low interest rates, a major factor behind the sharp drop in the yen, as its global peers raised interest rates to curb spiraling inflation.