{"id":496733,"date":"2026-05-22T02:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/496733\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T02:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T02:03:14","slug":"japan-core-inflation-softens-to-over-four-year-low-weakening-case-for-boj-rate-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/496733\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan core inflation softens to over four year low, weakening case for BOJ rate hike"},"content":{"rendered":"

A gas station attendant refuels a customer’s car in Tokyo on April 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Japan’s core inflation eased more than expected in April to its lowest level since March 2022, potentially weakening the case for an early rate hike by the Bank of Japan. <\/p>\n

Core inflation \u2014 which strips out prices of fresh food \u2014 came in at 1.4%, lower than the 1.7% expected by economists polled by Reuters and below the 1.8% reading in March.<\/p>\n

Headline inflation was at 1.4%, down from March’s 1.5% and the fourth straight month below the central bank’s 2% target.<\/p>\n

The so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which is watched by the Bank of Japan and strips out food and energy prices, fell to 1.9% from 2.4%.<\/p>\n

Energy prices fell 3.9% in April compared with a 5.7% decline in March, amid the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> opened up 0.96% following the data release, leading major Asian indexes, while the yen<\/a> weakened marginally to 159.03 against the dollar. <\/p>\n

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon\"hide<\/p>\n

The Bank of Japan sharply raised<\/a> its core inflation outlook to 2.8% from 1.9% at its April meeting, citing higher crude oil prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East and businesses passing on higher costs to consumers. <\/p>\n

The data also follows reports that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signaled she<\/a> was open to a supplementary budget to address rising energy costs.<\/p>\n

According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, opposition lawmakers had proposed a 3 trillion yen ($18.8 billion) package, including an extension of petrol subsidies and relief for electricity bills. <\/p>\n

\"Japanese<\/a>Japan may have fired its yen bazooka twice, but markets are testing Tokyo\u2019s resolve<\/a><\/p>\n

Japan is currently struggling with a weak yen, having reportedly spent 10 trillion yen<\/a>\u00a0on intervening in the yen at the end of April and the start of May. A weak currency<\/a> has increased import costs and eroded consumers’ purchasing power.<\/p>\n

Still, a BOJ rate hike may be on the horizon, as the country’s economy seems to be holding up, posting a better-than-expected 2.1% annualized expansion in the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n

The growth was partly powered by strong exports<\/a>, which could give the BOJ confidence to hike rates, according to DBS analysts in a Thursday note. <\/p>\n

This is breaking news, please check back for updates.<\/p>\n

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A gas station attendant refuels a customer’s car in Tokyo on April 24, 2026. Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[4055,4053,79,207,179,18,19,17,386,4052,4057,4048],"class_list":["post-496733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-asia-economy","tag-breaking-news-asia","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-japan","tag-nikkei-225-index","tag-prices","tag-usd-jpy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116615775141445174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}