Japan inflation data:
National CPI y/y for March, 1.6%
- expected 1.6%, prior was 1.5%
National CPI y/y excluding Fresh Food for March, 1.3%
- expected 1.4%, prior was 1.3%
National CPI excluding Food, Energy y/y for March, 0.7%
- expected 0.7%, prior was 0.8%
Tokyo CPI y/y for April, 2.9%
- expected 3.0%, prior was 1.3% (Note: the ‘expected’ is much higher than the prior due to the introduction of the higher sales tax rate on April 1 …. note we get Tokyo inflation figures for April, with national figures are for March)
Tokyo CPI excluding Fresh Food y/y for April, 2.7% (this is a 22-year high … but, of course, skewed by the sales tax hike)
- expected 2.8%, prior was 1.0% (ditto)
Tokyo CPI excluding Food, Energy y/y for April, 2.0%
- expected 2.1%, prior was 0.4% (ditto)
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OK, so there you have it. Tokyo CPI (which is released a month ahead of the ‘national’ CPI) is showing the effect of the sales tax hike. How much of the jump in the Tokyo CPI is due to the sales tax moving to 8% from 5% on April 1? As a guide, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) estimate that the (April) national CPI will have 1.7% added to it from the tax hike.
USD/JPY had a bit of a flurry, its up maybe 3 tics as i type. That’s not much of a flurry ….
