TOKYO-  Japan's consumer prices dropped for the first time in four years in 2016 by 0.3 percent from a year earlier in a sign the country is still grappling with deflationary pressure despite the Bank of Japan (BOJ)'s numerous monetary easing measures , the government said Friday.

The overall index, in 2016, including fresh food, retreated 0.1 percent but the core-core CPI, excluding both food and energy for their price volatility, increased 0.3 percent, which marked an uptick for the third successive year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

In December alone, the core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food prices, fell 0.2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry's latest data said, owing in part to lower energy prices. The decline marks the 10th straight month of retreat, the ministry said.

As for the core CPI for Tokyo's 23 wards in January, widely regarded as a gauge of price moves across the country in the coming months, prices fell 0.3 percent in the recording month, with the decline coming on the heels of a 0.6 percent decline in December, which marks the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the ministry also said.  (Xinhua News)