Japan's core inflation up sharply in August

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TOKYO, Sept 27 (Internet): Japan's core inflation rose sharply in August, climbing for the 11th straight month on higher prices for fuel and food, the government said Friday.
The core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food prices but includes those for energy, jumped 2.4 per cent from a year earlier, according to the ministry of internal affairs. The result was in line with market expectations and matches last month's figure, which marked the fastest pace of increase since October 1997 when core CPI also rose 2.4 per cent.
The data underscore that higher prices continue to hamstring the world's second-largest economy amid an almost certain recession.
New Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa told reporters that producers, sellers and consumers all face "very difficult" conditions, according to Kyodo news agency. The government, therefore, must act quickly to enact an economic stimulus package unveiled several weeks ago, he said.
Overall CPI including food and energy was up 2.1 per cent in August, the ministry of internal affairs said. Core CPI for the Tokyo area rose 1.7 per cent in September.
Energy prices were up 17.0 per cent during the month, and nonperishable food prices increased 4.1 per cent.
But a fall in crude oil prices starting mid-July suggests that inflation in Japan may have peaked.
"Looking ahead, we see that the recent oil price fall will end the modest rising trend in the core CPI inflation in the coming months," said a report Friday by JPMorgan Securities.
So-called core-core inflation excluding food and energy was flat from a year earlier, indicating that prices in most sectors remain relatively stable.