The weighted median inflation rate, among the three
indicators closely watched as a gauge on whether price rises are broadening,
rose 1.1 per cent in April from a year earlier after a 1.3 per cent gain in
March, the data showed.
The trimmed mean index, which excludes the upper and lower
tails of the price change distribution, rose 1.8 per cent in April from a year
earlier, slowing from the previous month’s 2.2 per cent.
A third index that measures the inflation rate with the
highest density in the distribution also rose 1.6 per cent in April, slowing
from the previous month’s 1.9 per cent gain, the data showed.
The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and
other remnants of its radical monetary stimulus in March, on the view that
sustained achievement of its 2 per cent inflation target has come into sight.
BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda has said the central bank will raise
interest rates from current near-zero levels if underlying inflation
accelerates towards 2 per cent, as it currently projects.
The data cast doubt on the BOJ’s view that price rises are
broadening beyond those driven by rising raw material costs, and likely to be
sustained backed by robust domestic demand. Reuters