Consumer prices fell at a record pace in July, adding to signs deflation will hamper a rebound from the nation's worst postwar recession, the government said Friday.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food declined 2.2 percent from a year earlier after dropping 1.7 percent in the previous month, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said. It was the sharpest decrease since the survey began in 1971.
Japan is once again facing deflation, a sustained bout of falling prices that plagued the economy for a decade until 2005. Stemming the declines and sustaining a recovery will be a challenge for the winner of Sunday's general election.