The Bank of Japan's chief economist urged the government to adjust consumer price data to better reflect housing costs, a change he estimates would boost the inflation rate by as much as 0.2 percentage point.

By more accurately taking into account changes in quality of rented housing over time, consumer price data would better capture the cost of living, said Eiji Maeda, director-general of the research and statistics department. Doing so would increase the nation's CPI by 0.1 to 0.2 point, he said.

Maeda was speaking at a meeting of the Cabinet Office's statistics committee, which aims to work out revisions to the figures by August next year as part of a regular five-year review — and within the period that the central bank is aiming to reach its inflation target.