Japan's core consumer prices remain flat for 2nd month in July
Source: Xinhua | 2020-08-22
Japan's core consumer prices remained flat for a second successive month in July, owing to economic stagnation as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, the government said in a report on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the nationwide core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food items, stood at 101.6 against a base of 100 in 2015.
Prior to the two months of flat readings, the index declined for two straight months in April and May amid the coronavirus pandemic, the statistics bureau's figures showed, although a recent rebound in gasoline prices helped prop up the index, the ministry said.
Gasoline prices, however, were still down 9.2 percent in the recording period, the ministry said, while those for kerosene fell 15.3 percent, on falling demand for energy during the pandemic.
Prices for electric appliances remained fairly robust, the office said, partly bolstered by the government's 100,000 yen (940 U.S. dollar) pandemic-liked cash handout program to all residents in Japan.
Weak demand saw accommodation prices drop, however, as travel restrictions from overseas remained in place and domestic travel curtailed by a resurgence of the virus here amid requests for people not to cross prefectural borders.
Accommodation fees, thus, fell 4.5 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
Core-core consumer prices, which exclude fresh food and energy items, increased 0.4 percent from a year earlier, in line with the figures for May and June.
Core consumer prices dropped 0.3 percent in July, compared with a 0.4 percent drop in June, when excluding the impact of the consumption tax hike and a free preschool education and nursery program, both introduced in October last year, the ministry also said.
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