Japan’s consumer price index rose 2.2% year-on-year in June, the highest in seven years and the 10th month in a row, driven by rising energy prices.
The indicator, which excludes the prices of fresh food due to its high volatility, increased one tenth since May, according to data released this Friday by the Japanese Ministry of the Interior.
The rise in June follows the year-on-year increase of 2.1% in May and exceeds, for the third consecutive month, the 2% inflation target set by the Bank of Japan (BoJ), also driven by the sharp increase in the cost of electricity and raw materials.
the rise of 16.5% year-on-year in energy prices was the factor that contributed the most to the rise in the index in June, while the costs of electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 14% compared to the same period in 2021.
The price of electricity rose 18% in June, that of gas 17.1% and that of other fuels 23.4%.
On Thursday, the Japanese central bank had revised upwards its inflation forecast for the 2022 financial year.
the BoJ forecasts that inflation will reach 2.3%mainly due to “the increase in the costs of energy, food and durable goods”, which points to an increase in the consumer price index of four tenths of a percentage point.
Still, the central bank opted to keep short-term interest rates unchanged at -0.1% and the exchange-traded fund purchase program to keep the long-term bond yield curve around 0. %.
Also on Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it had decided to raise its three key interest rates by 50 basis points, the first rise in 11 years, with the aim of curbing inflation.
The ECB raises interest rates by 50 points. Inflation will remain “undesirably high.” Program for debt with conditions and the ECB hopes not to use it
Year-on-year inflation rose in June to 8.6% in the euro zone, while in the European Union (EU) it reached 9.6%, Eurostat, the official statistics office of the EU, announced on Tuesday.
The rate of inflation in the euro area and the EU has accelerated since June 2021, driven by rising energy prices, reaching record levels since November.
In the United Kingdom, the consumer price index reached 9.4% in June, year on year, the highest level in more than 40 years, the British Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
Source: Observadora
