Japan CPI cools to near 4-year low in Feb, core inflation falls below BOJ target in World Economy News 25/03/2026 Japan’s consumer price index inflation grew at its slowest pace in nearly four years in February amid continued government measures to ease high food and utility prices. Core CPI inflation also fell to a near four-year low, dropping below the Bank of Japan’s 2% annual target. rose 1.3% year-on-year, its slowest pace since March 2022, government data showed on Tuesday. CPI cooled further from a 1.5% rise in the prior month. inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, grew 1.6% in February, less than expectations of 1.7% and softer than the 2% print seen in the prior month. The print also fell below the BOJ’s 2% annual target. Get more breaking economic news on the biggest Asian economies by subscribing to InvestingPro But underlying inflation remained sticky. A core print that excludes both fresh food and energy prices rose 2.5% in Feb, slightly slower than the 2.6% rise seen in the prior month. The BOJ usually uses both core and underlying prints to gauge Japanese inflation. The central bank had forecast a near-term decline in inflation during its latest meeting, stating that government subsidies and cooling food prices were likely to ease price pressures. “Inflationary pressures are more entrenched than the weak headline result would for February would suggest,” Capital Economics analysts said in a note, noting that the decline was largely due to electricity and gas subsidies from Tokyo. The BOJ expects inflation to pick up sharply later in 2026, with core inflation expected to move closer to its 2% annual target. Tuesday’s data did not reflect the increase in energy prices due to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Japan is seen as vulnerable to energy supply shocks, given its heavy dependence on oil and gas imports. Tokyo’s subsidies are also set to expire in April, a move that could herald a sharp rebound in Japanese inflation. “The BoJ should be able to hold the faith that the virtuous cycle between wage sand prices is here to stay… we suspect it will look past any weakness in headline inflation caused by government intervention,” Capital Economics analysts said, reiterating their view that the central bank will raise rates during its April meeting. The BOJ had also warned on the inflationary effects of the Middle East conflict, with BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda also signaling that the central bank will consider more rate raises. Source: Investing.com 2026-03-25 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share