Japan's core consumer inflation slowed to a new two-year low in August due to lower oil costs and feeble economic growth, data showed on Friday, adding to the Bank of Japan's growing challenges in achieving its elusive 2 percent price target.
The data will keep the central bank, which left monetary policy steady on Thursday, under pressure to ramp up an already massive stimulus program to fend off risks that could delay it from achieving its price goal.
The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, rose 0.5 percent in August from a year earlier, matching a median market forecast and slowing from a 0.6 percent gain in July. It was the slowest pace of increase since July 2017, when the index rose 0.5 percent.