Survey shows less people foreseeing price growth

October 7, 2017

TOKYO- A Bank of Japan survey for September revealed Friday that 70.4 percent of respondents expect prices to increase in the country in one year's time, down from 75.4 percent in the previous survey in June.

The first decline in three quarters shows Japanese households growing more cautious about the outlook of prices.

The negative result possibly reflected the strong impact on people of price decreases for some products, a BOJ official said.

The quarterly survey also found that the consumer confidence diffusion index came to minus 13.5, the highest since minus 10 in June 2014.

The DI represents the percentage of respondents who think economic conditions have improved from a year before minus that of those feeling the opposite.

The survey, conducted between Aug. 10 and Sept. 5, covered 4,000 people aged 20 or older, with valid responses received from 53.4 percent. Jiji Press