Still, like other central banks, the BOJ faces rising fuel, raw materials and food prices as it ponders what to do with rates, already at a very low 0.5 per cent.Japan’s core annual inflation rate hit a decade high of 1.2 per cent in March.
Housing starts, hit hard by a regulatory change last year continue to decline, falling 15.6 per cent in March from a year earlier.
And just to add to the gloom, NTC Research/Nomura/JMMA Purchasing Managers Index, which gives an early snapshot of the health of manufacturing, declined to a seasonally adjusted 48.6 in April from 49.5 in March and was the lowest since 48.1 in February 2003. A reading below 50 on such an index points to a contraction in manufacturing activity.
