Customers check out vegetables and other groceries at a supermarket in Tokyo on June 20, 2025.<\/p>\n
Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Japan’s core inflation in October rose at its sharpest rate since July, in line with market estimates on Friday, supporting the case for interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.<\/p>\n
Core inflation, which strips out prices of fresh food, came in at 3% as expected by economists polled by Reuters. <\/p>\n
The headline inflation rate rose to 3%, marking the the 43rd month in a row that it has run above the BOJ’s 2% target. <\/p>\n
The so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of fresh food and energy, crept up to at 3.1%, compared to 3% in September. <\/p>\n
Rice inflation continued to ease for a fifth month in a row, dipping to 40.2% from 49.2% in the month before. <\/p>\n
Japan’s\u00a0Nikkei 225<\/a>\u00a0was trading 1.58% lower, while the\u00a0yen\u00a0weakened marginally to 157.5 against the dollar.<\/p>\n The data comes as BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda reportedly had<\/a> his first bilateral meeting with newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier this week.<\/p>\n During the meeting, Ueda told Takaichi the central bank was “gradually raising interest rates to guide inflation smoothly towards its 2% target and ensure the economy achieves sustainable growth,” Reuters reported. <\/p>\n Takaichi has been an advocate of loose monetary policy, and had said on Nov. 12<\/a> to the country’s parliament that she hopes that the BOJ “conducts policy appropriately” so that the 2% inflation target is achieved by wage gains instead of cost-push factors.<\/p>\n “The type of inflation we’re seeing now is not good,” Takaichi reportedly said. The BOJ governor also said that Takaichi did not make any request related to monetary policy.<\/p>\n The central bank is currently caught between a rock and a hard place, with inflation running above target and GDP growth figures weakening as Japan takes a hit from U.S. tariffs.<\/p>\n