TOKYO, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Japan's July core consumer prices rose 0.7 percent year-on-year for the second straight month, a welcome development in the effort to end years of deflation.
The July increase in the consumer price index excluding fresh food exceeded the 0.4 percent gain in June, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reported Friday on its web site.
The June increase was the first monthly increase since November 2008 and since the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe introduced a number of stimulus measures to pull the country's economy from chronic deflation or falling prices. The measures have helped weaken the yen against major currencies, thus boosting Japanese critical exports.
The Bank of Japan has doubled its inflation target to 2 percent to be achieved in the next two years, with plans to inject billions of yen into the economy.
