Over 90 Pct Anticipate Higher Prices 1 Year Later: BOJ Survey

Tokyo, July 16 (Jiji Press)–A quarterly Bank of Japan survey showed Thursday that 90.4 pct of respondents anticipated higher prices in a year’s time compared with current levels. The proportion of such respondents rose 6.7 percentage points from the previous survey in March and set a new record high above the previous record of 88.9 pct, logged in June 2008. “The deterioration of the Middle East situation and company responses such as price hikes apparently affected people’s views on future prices,” said a BOJ official. When asked how much prices will increase over the next year, respondents gave an average answer of 13.1 pct, a record high. Meanwhile, the diffusion index for economic sentiment, or the proportion of respondents who said that the economic situation will be better minus that of those who said that the situation will be worse, fell from minus 18.5 to minus 42.5. The 24-point decline was the steepest on record, apparently reflecting the impact of the Middle East situation. The latest survey was conducted from May 7 to June 9, receiving valid responses from 2,031 people aged 20 or older across the country. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]