Well, that’s not too supportive of their latest measure to normalise monetary policy now, is it? As mentioned already at the end of last year, the BOJ is facing a race against the clock. And after last week’s move, they still are if they are intending to tighten policy further down the road.
According to the BOJ’s metrics, the trimmed mean reading for core inflation was seen at 2.3% in February. That is down from 2.6% in January and much lower than the peak of 3.4% in September last year.
The outcome of the spring wage negotiations is a good stepping stone. But Japan needs to translate that to spending and to stimulate the economy to boost underlying price measures. Otherwise, the trend above certainly is not too encouraging as inflation is also gradually declining across the globe.