気ままなリライト５９
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has showed how growing inflation without a wage hike is tightening household budgets through the December 2022 National Consumer Price Index (CPI2020=100) released on Friday. Rising prices in almost all items without the backdrop of a booming economy are discouraging many consumers from painting a rosy picture of what will happen to them in the pursuit of a sustainable development goal of living above the poverty line.
The composite consumer price index excluding fresh food in 2022 hit a 31-year high, with a 2.3 % increase in a year-on-year comparison, exceeding the two-percentage inflation target set by the Bank of Japan. Excluding fiscal 2014 when the consumption tax increase to 8 % was introduced, the index was at its highest level since a 2.2 % rise in 1992. Coupled with energy prices boosted by Russia’s war against the globalists, the depreciation of the yen pushed up the prices of imported items.
The consumer price index has been rising for 16 consecutive months, with the monthly composite index excluding fresh food in December 2022 recording a 4.0 % year-on-year increase, the highest for the first time in the past 41 years since a 4.0 % increase in December 1981 in the wake of the oil crisis. The composite index excluding food and energy marked a 3.0 % year-on-year increase in December, the highest for the first time in the past 31 years and four months since September 1991. A year-on-year increase in the index was recorded for 417 items, nearly 80 % of all items surveyed monthly in December while only 58 items were on the year-on-year decline in the index.
A price surge in daily essentials such as food and energy is hitting consumers as the increasing cost of living. The index for energy-related items rose by 15.2 % year-on-year, serving as the largest contributor to an increase in all items in December, exceeding a 13.3 % increase in November, marking a double-digit increase for 15 consecutive months. The index for utility gas service drove up by 33.3 %. The index for electricity service went up by 21.3 %. The index for all food items was up by 7.0 %, with a 7.4 % increase for groceries excluding fresh food items, the highest for the first time in the past 46-years and four months. Plagued by the rampant bird-flu, the index for eggs rose by 7.8 %. The index increased by 33.6 % for cooking oils, by 15.9 % for soda water, by 7.3 % for processed food, by 5.8 % for food away from home.
The index for household durable items rose by 10.8 % as the weakening yen drove up the cost of importing energy and materials. A 13 % increase in the index for air conditioners blew away many cash-strapped consumers’ hope of replacing an old one with a new one.