Japan households projecting higher inflation hits 14-year high

Apr 07, 2022 | News On Japan

Apr 07, 2022 (channelnewsasia.com) - The proportion of Japanese households expecting prices to rise a year from now has hit a 14-year high, a central bank survey showed on Thursday (Apr 7), as inflationary pressures from rising raw material costs grew.

The quarterly survey also showed more households felt worse off than three months ago as prices of food and daily necessities rose, highlighting the pain global commodity inflation was inflicting on Japan's fragile economy.

Of households surveyed, 84.3 per cent expect prices to rise a year from now, up from 78.8 per cent three months ago and marking the highest percentage since June 2008, the Bank of Japan's survey showed.

The survey, conducted between Feb 4 and Mar 2, also showed 82.1 per cent of households expect prices to rise five years from now. That was up from 80.8 per cent in the previous survey in January and the highest ratio since December 2019.

A diffusion index measuring households' livelihoods worsened to minus 36.9 in March from minus 34.2 in December, with many of those surveyed blaming the pinch from rising grocery prices.

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