The case of Japan’s curiously quiescent inflation rate

INFLATION IS SURGING around the world, with price rises now exceeding central banks’ targets. But Japan is a notable holdout. Although policymakers there have long sought to generate inflation, consumer prices still refuse to budge. In September they rose by just 0.2% year-on-year, and inflation, excluding fresh food and energy prices, actually fell by 0.5% in the same period. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, a bank, expect that measure to fall to -0.8% in the latest data, which was due to be published after this was written. By comparison, a “core” measure rose by 4.6% in America in October, 3.4% in Britain and 2.9% in Germany (see chart).