Japan’s key inflation gauge accelerated at the fastest clip in more than two years, fueled by rising food and energy costs, adding to the challenges faced by policymakers as economic uncertainty deepens.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.5% from a year earlier in April, quickening from a 3.2% gain in the previous month, according to an internal affairs ministry release on Friday. Economists had expected a 3.4% increase. A separate index that also strips out energy costs increased 3.0%, hitting that threshold for the first time in more than a year.
Energy prices jumped 9.3% following the March phaseout of government subsidies for gas and electricity. Ruling parties are now weighing a restart of the support as early as June, as well as steps to ease gasoline prices.
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