Prices in Japan tumbled at a record pace in August, intensifying concerns that deflation could undermine the fragile economic recovery.
The key consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, fell 2.4 percent from a year earlier amid rising unemployment and falling wages, the government said Tuesday. The figure marks the steepest decline since officials began compiling comparable data in 1971.
The result matched the average market forecast in a Kyodo News survey.