Japan Inflation Slips 0.5% On Year In September

Nationwide overall consumer prices in fell 0.5 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday – in line with expectations and unchanged from the August reading.

Core CPI, which excludes the volatile prices of food, also was down an annual 0.5 percent. That matched forecasts and was unchanged from the previous month.

Fuel prices were the chief mover, down an annual 6.2 percent, along with communications (-2.1 percent) and furniture (-1.5 percent).

On a monthly basis, overall CPI was up 0.2 percent and core inflation was flat.

Overall inflation for the Tokyo region, considered a leading indicator for the nationwide trend, was up 0.1 percent on year in October versus forecasts for a decline of 0.4 percent after falling 0.5 percent a month earlier.

Core CPI for Tokyo was down 0.4 percent versus forecasts for -0.5 percent, which would have been unchanged.

Fuel prices were again the main catalyst, plummeting an annual 8.0 percent, while communications costs fell 1.3 percent.

On a monthly basis, overall CPI for Tokyo was up 0.1 percent and core inflation was down 0.4 percent.

Also on Friday, the ministry said that:

• The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.0 percent in September. That was beneath forecasts for 3.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from the August reading.

The job-to-applicant ratio came in at 1.38, matching forecasts and up from 1.37 in the previous month. The participation rate was 60.5 percent, up from 60.3 percent a month earlier.

The number of employed persons in September was 64.97 million, an increase of 580,000 or 0.9 percent on year.

The number of unemployed persons in September was 2.04 million, a decrease of 230,000 or 10.1 percent on year.

• The average of household spending in Japan was down 2.1 percent on year in September, coming in at 267,119 yen.

The headline figure beat expectations for a decline of 2.7 percent following the 4.6 percent contraction in August.

The average of monthly income per household stood at 424,553 yen, up 2.7 percent on year, while the average of consumption expenditures per household was 296,387 yen, down an annual 0.3 percent.

by RTT Staff Writer

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