BOJ Kuroda highlights inflation

Rising prices of daily necessities could hurt household sentiment, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday, suggesting that mounting inflationary pressure is emerging as a risk to the country’s fragile economy.

Japan’s core consumer inflation rose 2.1per cent year-on-year in April, exceeding the central bank’s 2per cent target for the first time in seven years, due largely to surging fuel and raw material costs. read more

Kuroda said it was undesirable for prices to rise too much when household income growth remains weak.

“Prices are rising particularly for goods that households buy frequently such as gasoline and food,” Kuroda told parliament. “These kind of price hikes could hurt consumer sentiment, so we need to watch developments carefully.”

Kuroda has repeatedly said the BOJ won’t roll back its massive monetary stimulus as the recent rise in inflation was driven mostly by raw commodity costs and likely temporary.