Japan’s inflation rate was unchanged in July after slowing the previous month, highlighting the challenge Governor Haruhiko Kuroda faces in achieving the central bank’s price-growth target.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.3 percent from a year earlier, the same pace as June, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. This matched the median projection from a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists. Stripped of the effect of April’s sales tax increase, inflation was 1.3 percent.
The Bank of Japan has said that consumer prices will increase about 1.25 percent for some time before accelerating to reach its 2 percent inflation goal. Any weakness in inflation following the contraction in the economy last quarter may increase pressure on Kuroda to add to stimulus.
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