The economy of Japan struggled last month according to a wave of data released by the Bank of Japan. The industrial production was down 1.4% over the prior month, which was much lower than the anticipated fall of 0.3 percent.
The numbers point to a deficiency of momentum and also suggest that the Bank of Japan's inflation target of 2% remains out of reach. The signs of poor wage has put Bank of Japan under pressure to raise its stimulus, according to Financial Times.
Bank of Japan in its Outlook for Economic Activity report said that the country's economy has continued to improve reasonably, though the production and exports sector have been troubled by the slowdown in developing nations' economy. Domestic demand, through 2017, is expected to follow a forward trend with the spending phase being maintained in corporate and household sectors.
Japan's exports are anticipated to rise fairly as the economy of developing countries are peddling out of their downturn phase. Bank of Japan expects the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI to be nearly 2 percent on average. The expected rate of increase in the consumer price index for 2016 is lesser and the anticipation for fiscal 2017 remain unchanged.
The activity data suggest that the nation's economy hardly grew in the previous quarter and that the economic activity should improve in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the balance in Japan's primary inflation suggest that Bank of Japan should work hard to reach its inflation goal of 2 percent, Financial Times said citing Marcel Thieliant, an economist at Capital Economics.
In Tokyo area, the headline index was down by 0.3% over a year ago and remain a hurdle for BoJ as they effect wage demands by labours.
Prices were up by only 0.2% over a year ago, due to the renewed drop in oil prices. Removing energy and food, prices increased 0.8%, compared with 0.9% last month. Household spending dropped by 4.4% over the prior year. The rate of unemployment was unchanged from last month and the proportion of job opportunities to applicants increased to a new high of 1.27 times. The tightening in the job market should lead to greater inflation.
"There is a chance that the BoJ will take action today, but even if they don't, market pressure will continue to mount -- Abenomics remains at a crucial stage," Mail Online said citing Taro Saito, a financial expert at NLI Research Institute.
Officials at Bank of Japan came out with a set of changes like enhancing their holdings in companies devoted to capital expenditure and fresh recruitments. Officials believe that placing more capital in shoppers' purse will offshoot spending and move the nation closer to BoJ's inflation goal of 2 percent.
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