Japan’s core inflation rose to a more than two-year high in May, exceeding the central bank’s 2% target for over three years and increasing pressure on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to resume rate hikes.
The core consumer price index (CPI), excluding volatile fresh food, rose 3.7% year-on-year in May, surpassing market forecasts and accelerating from April’s 3.5%. It marked the fastest pace since January 2023’s 4.2%.
A separate index, stripping out fresh food and fuel, climbed 3.3%, the highest since January 2024.
The rise was driven largely by persistent food inflation. Staple rice prices doubled compared to last year, while rice balls rose nearly 20% and chocolate bars by 27%.
Service-sector inflation also rose to 1.4% from 1.3%, reflecting firms passing on higher labour costs.
The data highlights the BOJ’s challenge in balancing inflation pressures with risks from U.S. trade uncertainty under President Trump. A Reuters poll showed a slight majority of economists expect the BOJ’s next rate hike in early 2026.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said underlying inflation remains below target but could re-accelerate. “If our forecasts materialise, we expect to keep raising interest rates,” he said.
Kabul was rocked by a powerful explosion late Thursday night, with multiple witnesses reporting the sound of fighter jets flying over the city’s air...
Large parts of Kyiv were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Friday after Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities, cutt...
Georgia’s political crisis has intensified following the 4th October local elections and a protest in Tbilisi that ended in clashes and mass arrests...
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle ...
Israeli troops began pulling back from some parts of Gaza on Friday at midday under a ceasefire deal with Hamas according to Israeli military official...
Kabul was rocked by a powerful explosion late Thursday night, with multiple witnesses reporting the sound of fighter jets flying over the city’s airspace.
Large parts of Kyiv were plunged into darkness in the early hours of Friday after Russian drones and missiles struck Ukrainian energy facilities, cutting power and water to homes and halting a key metro link across the Dnipro river.
Georgia’s political crisis has intensified following the 4th October local elections and a protest in Tbilisi that ended in clashes and mass arrests.
Today, 10 October, the CIS Heads of State Council meeting is underway in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in a limited format attended by leaders from member states.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Gold prices rose above $4,000 an ounce for the first time on Wednesday, fuelled by investor demand for safe-haven assets amid rising geopolitical tensions and expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts.
U.S. shares ended Tuesday in negative territory as investors, cut off from official economic data due to the ongoing government shutdown, looked to alternative indicators and comments from Federal Reserve officials for guidance on economic weakness and monetary policy.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is targeting a $20 billion capital raise linked to Nvidia hardware, Bloomberg News has reported.
Türkiye’s benchmark stock index, the BIST 100, closed Tuesday at 10,814.11 points, up 0.74% from the previous session.
Euro zone finance ministers are set to meet on Thursday to explore ways to boost the development of euro-denominated stablecoins, amid concerns that the fast-growing market could remain dominated by the United States, a senior euro zone official said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment