TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s corporate service price index fell 0.2% on
year in July, marking the second straight y/y drop on continued lower
costs of transportation and advertizing services, data released by the
Bank of Japan showed on Friday.
But the pace of the year-on-year decline decelerated from a revised
0.4% fall in June in light of higher costs for civil engineering, retail
estate and leasing.
In April, CSPI rose 0.2%, posting the first year-on-year gain in
more than three years since +0.9% in September 2008.
Total CSPI, which stood at 96.0 in July against 100 in the 2005
base year, rose 0.1% from the previous month, after falling a revised
0.2% in June.
Core CSPI excluding international transportation, a measure free of
volatile factors, was unchanged from a year earlier in July after
falling 0.1% in June.
The downward pressure on prices has generally eased since total
CSPI posted a record drop of -3.8% in August 2009, which was the largest
decline since the BOJ began compiling CSPI data in January 1985.
The corporate services price index tracks prices for a wide range
of corporate services, ranging from finance and insurance charges to the
cost of shipping goods by road rail, air or sea.
tokyo@marketnews.com
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