Japan’s Output Climbs Most Since ’11 as Tax Rise Looms: Economy

Japan’s industrial production grew the most since 2011, indicating the economy is strengthening as a looming sales-tax bump stimulates demand, while inflation matched the highest level in more than five years.

Output rose 4 percent in January from the previous month, the trade ministry said today in Tokyo, more than a 2.8 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 33 economists. Consumer prices excluding fresh food climbed 1.3 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said.