TOKYO: Japan’s core consumer price index, which strips out one-off factors, rose in September at the fastest annual pace in three years, data showed on Tuesday, a sign of broadening price pressures that cement the case for further interest rate hikes.
The data comes ahead of the Bank of Japan’s two-day policy meeting that ends on Friday, when the central bank is set to keep interest rates steady at 1.25 percent but signal its readiness to keep raising borrowing costs on mounting risks of inflation.
The index, which excludes “institutional factors” such as education and energy-related subsidies, jumped 3.2 percent in September from a year earlier, BOJ data showed, accelerating from a rise of 2.6 percent in August. The index rise is the biggest year-on-year since October 2023.