Japan’s Inflation Unchanged, Highlighting BOJ’s Challenge

Japan’s inflation rate was unchanged in July after slowing the previous month, highlighting the challenge Governor Haruhiko Kuroda faces in achieving the central bank’s price-growth target.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.3 percent from a year earlier, the same pace as June, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. This matched the median projection from a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists. Stripped of the effect of April’s sales tax increase, inflation was 1.3 percent.