30.07.202623:35:27UTC+00Tokyo Core Inflation Hits 6-Month High of 1.9%

Core consumer prices in Tokyo’s 23 central wards rose 1.9% year-on-year in July 2026, up from a 1.6% increase in June and above market expectations of 1.7%. This marked the second straight month of faster price gains and the quickest pace since January, pointing to increasingly broad-based price pressures linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Even so, headline inflation remained below the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for the sixth consecutive month, as government fuel subsidies and favorable base effects helped offset higher raw material costs associated with the conflict.

Meanwhile, the core-core CPI— which excludes both volatile fresh food and energy and is regarded by the Bank of Japan as a more reliable measure of underlying inflation—rose 2.0% year-on-year, up from 1.9% in June and the highest reading in four months. At its June meeting, the BoJ raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to the highest level since September 1995, marking the first rate hike since last December, as it sought to prevent higher oil prices from stoking broader inflationary pressures.