"BOJ Raises Inflation Forecast for This Year from 2.5% to 3%"

Rising Oil Prices Reflected in Corporate Product Price Increases

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is considering raising its consumer price inflation forecast for this year from the previous 2.5% to about 3%.

Kazuo Ueda, Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ)
Photo by Yonhap News

According to Kyodo News on the 10th, the BOJ plans to finalize and announce an economic outlook revision report containing this information at the Monetary Policy Meeting scheduled for the 30th to 31st of this month.

The BOJ releases quarterly outlook reports and has continuously raised its inflation forecast from 1.6% at the beginning of the year to 1.8% in April and 2.5% in July. The communication stated that the additional upward revision this time is to reflect recent oil price increases and companies' product price hikes. In fact, Japan's consumer price index (excluding fresh food) in August rose 3.1% compared to the same period last year.

The BOJ is also considering raising its growth forecast in this economic outlook report. This is reported to reflect the fact that the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the second quarter reached 4.8% (annualized basis). Previously, in the report released in July, the BOJ presented Japan's economic growth forecast at 1.3%.