In the Bank of Japan's July price statistics, core CPI excluding special factors slowed to 2.3% year on year, while core-core CPI accelerated to 2.2%. With inflation continuing to exceed 2% in July, attention is being drawn to the differing movements of indicators such as the trimmed mean, weighted median and mode.
Core CPI excluding special factors slowed to 2.3% year on year in July, down from 2.6% in June. Core-core CPI, by contrast, accelerated to 2.2%. Taken together, the multiple indicators published by the Bank of Japan showed that underlying inflation remained above 2%.
Among the indicators excluding fresh food, energy and special factors, core CPI slowed, while core-core CPI and the indicator excluding food and energy strengthened, suggesting that underlying price pressures may be intensifying.
The trimmed mean rose 2.0%, the weighted median was 1.1% and the mode was 1.4%, producing differing assessments of the strength of price increases depending on the calculation method. In July, 72.4% of items rose in price and 23.3% fell, indicating that the breadth of price increases was less pronounced than at its peak.
The policy factors the Bank of Japan classifies as special factors include free education and measures to ease energy costs. Excluding these factors is said to bring underlying price trends into view. Viewing multiple indicators together reflects an approach focused on assessing the relationship between wages and prices and the sustainability of endogenous price pressures.