Japan’s core inflation accelerates, keeps BOJ rate-hike chance alive

By Leika Kihara

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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s core inflation accelerated in November as rising food and fuel costs hit households, data showed on Friday, keeping the central bank under pressure to raise interest rates.

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The data, which came in the wake of the Bank of Japan’s decision to maintain interest rates at 0.25% on Thursday, highlights broadening inflationary pressure that could prod the bank to raise borrowing costs further.

The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier, government data showed, compared with a median market forecast for a 2.6% gain.

It accelerated from a 2.3% rise in October due partly to stubbornly high prices of rice and the phase-out of government subsidies to curb utility bills.

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A separate index that strips away the effect of volatile fresh food and fuel, scrutinised by the BOJ as a better gauge of demand-driven inflation, rose 2.4% in November from a year earlier after a 2.3% gain in October.

The BOJ ended negative interest rates in March and raised its short-term policy rate to 0.25% in July on the view Japan was on the cusp of durably achieving its 2% inflation target.

Ueda has stressed the BOJ’s readiness to raise rates again if Japan continues to make progress in durably achieving its price target backed by domestic demand and sustained wage gains.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sam Holmes)