Japan Core Consumer Prices Rise 1.8 Pct in March

Tokyo, April 24 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s core consumer price index in March rose 1.8 pct from a year earlier, marking the 55th straight month of increase, the internal affairs ministry said Friday. The core CPI, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, stood at 112.1 against the 2020 base of 100. The pace of rise accelerated for the first time in five months, outpacing February’s 1.6 pct rise, partly due to higher kerosene prices as growing Middle East tensions lifted crude oil prices. Gasoline prices fell 5.4 pct, smaller than a 14.9 pct decline in February, since the effect of the abolition of the provisional add-on gasoline tax rate at the end of last year largely faded. Kerosene prices rose 6.3 pct, against a 3.5 pct drop in February. Electricity and city gas rates fell 8.0 pct and 8.3 pct, respectively, due to government subsidies. The size of decline in overall energy prices narrowed to 5.7 pct from 9.1 pct. The survey was conducted in mid-March and therefore does not reflect the effect of gasoline subsidies introduced later that month in response to the Middle East tensions. An official at the ministry’s Statistics Bureau said, “We have not confirmed at the moment” the spillover effects of higher crude oil prices into other items. Food prices excluding fresh items rose 5.2 pct, with the pace of increase slowing for the eighth straight month as growth in rice and other products decelerated. The overall CPI, including fresh food, rose 1.5 pct, while the index excluding fresh food and energy climbed 2.4 pct. For the whole of fiscal 2025, which ended in March, the core CPI rose 2.7 pct from the previous year, up for five years in a row, while the rate of growth leveled off. Surging prices of food items, including rice, which logged a record 48.9 pct rise, continued to push up overall prices. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]