Japan’s consumer prices rose four percent in December from a year earlier, a level not seen since December 1981, fuelled in part by higher energy bills, government data showed Friday.
The acceleration came after a 3.7 percent increase in prices in November, and the data from the internal affairs ministry showed inflation for the 2022 calendar year stood at 2.3 percent.
The figures were released days after the Bank of Japan again opted to leave its ultra-easy monetary policy intact, bucking the trend set by other central banks that have hiked rates to tackle rising prices.
The December figure was well below the still sky-high levels that have sparked concern in the United States, Britain and elsewhere, but it far exceeds the BoJ’s longstanding inflation goal of two percent.
Even excluding volatile fresh food and energy prices, the figure for December was three percent.
