Japan overall consumer price inflation softened in February largely due to government subsidies for energy but the increase in core inflation together with higher wage growth and services inflation put pressure on the Bank of Japan to lift key interest rates.
Excluding fresh food and energy, inflation rose to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent in the previous month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday.
However, consumer price inflation logged 3.7 percent in February, down from 4.0 percent in January. Likewise, excluding fresh food, inflation softened to 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent in the prior month.
On a monthly basis, the consumer price index edged down 0.1 percent, which was the first fall in five months.