MNI BRIEF: BOJ's Wakatabe Sees Core CPI Around 1% In Spring

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masazumi Wakatabe said on Thursday that he expects Japan’s core consumer price index to reach around around 1% in spring.

“It is likely to increase in positive territory, reaching around 1% in spring, albeit with fluctuations. This will likely occur on the back of the rise in energy prices, a moderate pass-through of raw material cost increases, and dissipation of the effects of the reduction in mobile phone charges,” Wakatabe told business leaders in Wakayama City via an online conference.

“The rate of increase in the CPI is expected to stay at around 1% through fiscal 2023, the end of the projection period, because the underlying inflationary pressure is projected to increase, mainly on the back of an improvement in the output gap and a rise in inflation expectations.”