With inflation already exceeding the 2% target due largely to rising raw material costs, the second consecutive monthly services acceleration may keep alive market expectations the Bank of Japan will eventually whittle down its massive stimulus under new governor Kazuo Ueda.
Hotel service fees spiked 30.1% in February from a year earlier as removal of COVID-19 restrictions boosted demand for inbound tourism, the data showed. "For services, the pass-through of rising costs isn't as smooth as those for wholesale goods," said Masato Higashi, head of the BOJ's price statistics division, told a briefing.The data came after top companies agreed to their largest pay increases in a quarter century in annualwith union earlier this month, a sign the country may be finally shaking off the public's sticky deflationary mindset.
The key will be whether smaller firms will follow their bigger rivals in hiking pay, and whether the rise in wages will be sustained next year, analysts say.
I think Japan will encounter a problem if they don't change their policy.
The Bank of Japan (8301) had already gone bankrupt on March 14, 2022. Delisted, shares redeemed
Even during a period of high global inflation, Japan couldn't get their inflation rate up. It's almost impressive