Author: Kantaro Komiya
TOKYO (Reuters) – Consumer inflation in Tokyo in October was likely below the central bank’s target price for the first time in five months, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Tokyo’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, was expected to rise 1.7% from a year earlier, according to the median forecast of 18 economists.
This would follow a 2.0% gain in September and mark the first time data has missed the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) 2% target since May’s 1.9% gain.
“The pace of food price increases is moderating and the pace of recovery in consumer spending remains sluggish despite strong wage increases,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
Japan’s nationwide core CPI, which excludes fresh food but includes energy items, fell to 2.4% in September, data released earlier on Friday showed.
The government will release October CPI data in Tokyo on October 25 at 8:30 a.m. Japan time (October 24 at 11:30 p.m. GMT), which will be the latest price data for the BOJ as it compiles its quarterly economic forecasts on Oct. 30-10 at the 31st policy meeting.
A Reuters poll shows the BoJ is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its October meeting. A slim majority of economists expected the BOJ to keep the current interest rate at 0.25% through the end of December, and nearly 90% of economists expected an increase to 0.5% by the end of March.
