Japan’s Inflation Slows Again as Cheaper Oil Undermines the BOJ

Japan’s key inflation gauge slowed again in December, highlighting the difficulty of reaching the central bank’s 2 percent price goal and its dependence on oil prices.

Consumer prices excluding fresh foods rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier in December, for the first back-to-back slowdown since April as energy costs offered less support for inflation, according to the ministry of internal affairs Friday. That’s slightly weaker than a median estimate of 0.8 percent.