Japan March wholesale inflation slows for 3rd straight month
FILE PHOTO: A woman is seen through glass window of a display outside a department store at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, May 28, 2015. Japan's core consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in April from a year earlier, government data showed on May 29, keeping inflation distant from the central bank's 2 percent target. Picture taken May 28, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino
TOKYO : Japan's wholesale prices rose 7.2 per cent in March from a year earlier, with the pace of increase slowing for the third straight month, data showed on Wednesday, offering some relief to households and firms hit by a steady rise in raw material costs.
The gain in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, was roughly in line with a median market forecast for a 7.1 per cent gain. It followed a revised 8.3 per cent increase in February.
Rising global commodity and fuel costs have pushed Japan's wholesale and consumer inflation to multi-decade highs, heightening market expectations the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may soon phase out its massive stimulus programme.
