Japan consumer prices log first drop in more than 3 years

TOKYO — Consumer prices in Japan fell for the first time in more than 3 years last month, official data showed Friday, dragged down by the coronavirus pandemic and collapsing oil prices.

Core prices in April, excluding volatile fresh food, slipped 0.2 percent from a year earlier, reversing a rise of 0.4 percent in March, according to the internal affairs ministry.

It was the first drop in 40 months, the ministry said, and larger than a 0.1-percent drop predicted by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Month-on-month, prices fell 0.5 percent following a drop of 0.1 percent in March.

"Corona containment evaporated prices pressures," said Capital Economics economist Tom Learmouth.

Japanese inflation will "turn deeply negative over the coming months as services inflation and energy inflation continue to fall sharply," he said in a note.

Energy costs fell sharply year-on-year reflecting lower gasoline and oil products prices, while prices also dropped in the tourism industry hit hard by the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

Hotel fees and foreign travel prices sank while the cost of durable goods edged down as consumers stayed home amid the virus woes. School fees also fell.

Government data on Monday showed Japan had dived into its first recession since 2015 in the first quarter of the year and some economists warned the worst was yet to come.

Even before the virus outbreak, the central Bank of Japan had spent years struggling to achieve a two percent inflation target, as consumer spending remained slack despite the bank's massive credit easing.

The bank is holding an extra policy meeting Friday to discuss funding measures for smaller companies.

But central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda said last week that he did not expect Japan to be "trapped in a deflationary situation".

"Inflation rates in this fiscal year 2020 will be negative, but in fiscal 2021 and 22 inflation rates will be positive," he said at a Financial Times forum.

Agence France-Presse

110,000 people ordered to evacuate after heavy rain in western Japan

Evacuation orders were issued Thursday for 110,000 people in Japan's Kyoto Prefecture amid an escalating risk of mudslides following heavy rain.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of landslides and rising river levels as the heavy rain may continue through Sunday in the Kinki region including Kyoto, Hyogo and Osaka prefectures, part of which is still reeling from a deadly quake in June.

At a construction site in Inagawa, Hyogo Prefecture, a worker died after being washed away in a drainage pipe with two others. He is believed to be a 59-year-old man from Wakayama city. The rain also disrupted traffic and caused landslides in the city of Otsu in Shiga Prefecture and the city of Kobe in Hyogo.

Evacuation orders were also issued for locations in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, an area hit by the magnitude-6.1 quake on June 18.

In the city of Kyoto, a rise in the water level of the Kamo River running through the city's central area led authorities to prohibit people from entering its riverside promenade, known as one of the city's sightseeing spots. A bridge across the Katsura River in Arashiyama, another famous tourist attraction in the city, was also closed due to the same reason.

Multiple express and local trains were canceled and an expressway connecting central and western Japan was partially closed, according to railway and road operators.

The weather agency says heavy rain of up to 70 millimeters per hour is expected through Friday in the Kinki region. In the 24-hour period through 6 a.m. Friday, up to 350 mm of rainfall is forecast for the area.

source: news.abs-cbn.com