Tokyo's August consumer price index, with fresh food excluded from the core CPI, rose 1.8% year on year. The core-core CPI rose 2.0% and headline CPI rose 1.9%, providing support for expectations of an early Bank of Japan rate hike. The August readings matched market expectations.
Tokyo's August core CPI rose 1.8% year on year. Although it remained below the Bank of Japan's 2% target, the pace of increase accelerated for the third consecutive month.
The core-core CPI, excluding fresh food and energy, rose 2.0%, accelerating from the previous month and returning to the 2% range for the first time in 5 months. The headline index rose 1.9%, with both readings in line with market expectations.
As vigilance over the Bank of Japan's monetary policy grows, the monetary authorities of Japan and the United States are coordinating efforts to correct the yen's depreciation. This could support expectations of a rate hike at the Bank of Japan's next monetary policy meeting in September.
The August release marked the shift to the 2025 base year. Following the retrospective revisions, Tokyo's July figures were 1.7% for core CPI and 1.8% for both headline and core-core CPI, representing downward revisions of 0.2 percentage points in each case.