Consumer prices in Tokyo fell a record 0.9 percent in fiscal 2000 from the year before for the second straight year of decline, reaffirming that the economy is experiencing deflation, the government said Friday.
It is the first time that prices have fallen for two years in a row since 1971, when the government started to compile the statistics under the current method. Prices fell 0.6 percent in fiscal 1999.
Prices in March for Tokyo's 23 wards -- a leading indicator of price trends for the rest of the nation -- also fell by a record 0.9 percent from a year earlier, down for a record 19th consecutive month, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said in a preliminary report.