Tokyo core consumer prices post biggest annual drop in over eight years

By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) - Core consumer prices in Tokyo fell 0.7% in November from a year earlier, marking the biggest annual drop in more than eight years, a sign the hit to consumption from the coronavirus crisis was heightening deflationary pressure on the economy.

The core consumer price index (CPI) for Japan's capital, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, matched a median market forecast and followed a 0.5% drop in October, government data showed on Friday.

The decline in November was the biggest since May 2012, when core consumer prices fell 0.8%.

The data, which is considered a leading indictor of nationwide price trends, reinforces market expectations that inflation will remain distant from the Bank of Japan's 2% target for the foreseeable future.

 

(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)