Inflation in Japan accelerated further beyond the central bank’s 2 percent target in July, complicating Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s task of explaining his insistence on the continued need for ultra-low interest rates.
Consumer prices, excluding fresh food, rose 2.4 percent in July from a year earlier, with energy costs accounting for about half of the gains, the interior ministry said on Friday. The result matched economists’ forecasts and was the strongest reading since 2008, excluding the impact of sales tax increases.
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