People in Japan Forecast 12 Pct Inflation over Coming Year

Tokyo, April 12 (Jiji Press)--The average forecast for inflation over the coming year was plus 12.2 pct in a Bank of Japan survey last month, up from plus 11.5 pct in the previous survey about three months earlier.

The latest survey of people aged 20 and older nationwide was conducted from Feb. 6 to March 4.

Of those surveyed, 86.7 pct said that prices are likely to be higher in a year’s time, up from 85.7 pct.

Meanwhile, 96.1 pct said that prices now are higher than a year earlier, up from 95.1 pct, and they estimated inflation over the past year at plus 19.1 pct, up from plus 17 pct.

The diffusion index for people’s livelihoods, or the percentage of respondents with improving livelihood minus that of those with worsening livelihood, stood at minus 52.0, compared with minus 52.4 in the previous survey.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]