By KEIICHI KITAGAWA/ Staff Writer
November 18, 2022 at 18:54 JST
A staff member changes posters inside a shop in Tokyo to show higher prices of milk and other items on Oct. 31. (Kazushige Kobayashi)
Japan’s consumer price index excluding perishables hit 103.4 in October, up 3.6 percent year-on-year, the largest increase since February 1982, the internal affairs ministry said on Nov. 18.
The rise was even sharper than those for periods impacted by hikes in the consumption tax rate.
It was also the 14th consecutive month of increases, and the seventh straight month for CPI to surge by more than 2 percent.
The Bank of Japan has set a price-stability target of 2 percent for the CPI’s rise.
According to Teikoku Databank Ltd., prices of around 6,700 items rose in October, a record high for one month.
In addition to the surging prices of natural resources triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the weaker yen has pushed up prices of a wide range of items in Japan, including food and energy.
Prices of household durable goods jumped by 11.8 percent year-on-year, the largest increase since March 1975.
Food prices, excluding perishables, increased by 5.9 percent, the highest rise since March 1981.
Energy prices were up 15.2 percent in October, down from the increase of 16.9 percent the previous month.
The decline was attributed mainly to the government grants that helped to keep the increase in gasoline prices to only 2.9 percent.
In contrast, prices of electricity and city gas soared by 20.9 percent and 26.8 percent, respectively.
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