Consumer prices in Japan rose 1.3 per cent in January from a year earlier, for the eighth consecutive month of increase, the government said Friday.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, stood at 100.4 against a base of 100 for 2010.
“Higher petrol prices and electricity costs amid the yen’s decline were behind the figures”, the ministry said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government and the Bank of Japan have vowed to beat years of deflation. The central bank decided in April 2013 to take aggressive monetary easing measures to achieve an inflation target of 2 per cent within about 2 years.
In June, the index climbed 0.4 per cent in the first rise in 14 months.