People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus walk at a station building in Tokyo, on Nov. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's core consumer prices gained 0.1 percent in October from a year earlier, reflecting upward pressure from higher fuel costs that threaten to cool consumer sentiment as the economy emerges from the COVID-19 doldrums, government data showed Friday.
The core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food items, has been in a tug of war between rising commodities prices and sharply lower mobile phone charges, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications data.
Higher fuel costs heading into winter when energy demand increases are feared to deal a blow to Japanese consumers as the country sees a pickup in economic activity with the whole nation free of COVID-19 states of emergency.
Japan's high dependence on energy imports makes the resource-scarce nation susceptible to swings in commodities prices and a weaker yen also inflates import costs.
Gasoline prices rose at the sharpest pace in over 13 years, up 21.4 percent, tracking higher crude oil prices. Kerosene jumped 25.9 percent while city gas prices turned positive for the first time since August 2019.
A record 53.6 percent fall in mobile communications fees continued to weigh on the core CPI, masking, economists say, the full impact of rising inflationary pressure in Japan.
Major Japanese carriers decided to offer cheaper plans in the face of government pressure to ease the burden on consumers.
Accommodation fees gained 59.1 percent from a year earlier, when the government's subsidy program to shore up regional tourism in Japan sent prices sharply lower.
The rise in the headline CPI is still modest compared with the United States and some European nations where inflation is rapidly accelerating.
Excluding both fresh food and energy items, the so-called core-core CPI dropped 0.7 percent, down for the seventh straight month.
Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0