The pace of price growth in Tokyo has picked up, while other economic data suggests that Japan’s moderate recovery continues, backing the central bank’s economic outlook a week after authorities raised the benchmark rate again.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital climbed 2.5% in January from a year earlier, the fastest pace since last February, the internal affairs ministry said Friday. Overall price gains also sped up to 3.4%, the fastest clip in nearly two years, as the cost of fresh food jumped.
Separate data showed the labor market appeared to remain tight as the jobless rate slightly decreased to 2.4%, and jobs to applicant levels remained at 1.25, meaning there were 125 job openings for every 100 job seekers. Industrial production and retail sales data were also broadly better than expected.
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