TOKYO (Reuters) – Consumer inflation in Tokyo for November likely surpassed the Bank of Japan’s 2% price target following a reduction in fuel subsidies and with an increase in food costs, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
The core consumer price index (CPI) in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, was expected to have accelerated to 2.1% in November from a year earlier, the median forecast of 17 economists showed.
That would follow a 1.8% rise in October, when it was below the central bank’s target for the first time in five months.
“The index’s year-on-year increase (in November) is expected to widen from the previous month, due to the resumption of growth in food prices in response to the rise in rice prices, and the diminishing effect of the government’s measures to counter rising prices,” said Shunpei Fujita, an economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.
Japan’s nationwide core CPI, which excludes fresh food but includes energy items, slightly slowed to 2.3% in October from 2.4% in September, data showed earlier on Friday.
The internal affairs ministry will release November Tokyo CPI data, which is among the key data due before BOJ’s December policy-setting meeting, on Nov. 29 at 8:30 a.m. Japan time (Nov. 28 at 2330 GMT).
Meanwhile, Japan’s industrial output likely expanded by 3.9% in October from the previous month, supported by an increase in chip-related manufacturing machinery and transport equipment production, the poll showed. That would follow September’s 1.6% rise.
The industry ministry will release the factory output data on Nov. 29 at 8:50 a.m. Japan time (Nov. 28 at 2350 GMT). It will also announce retail sales figures, which were expected to have jumped 2.2% in October from a year ago, at the same time.
Japan’s jobless rate was likely at 2.5% in October, edging up from September’s 2.4%, and the jobs-to-applicants ratio was expected to be steady at 1.24, according to the poll.
The jobs data will be published at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 29.
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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