TOKYO, April 25 (Reuters) - Japan's business-to-business
service inflation hit an eight-year high in the fiscal year that
ended March, data showed on Tuesday, a sign inflationary
pressure was broadening beyond goods reflecting a tight job
market and solid domestic demand.
The data may keep alive market expectations that new Bank of
Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda will phase out the bank's
massive stimulus programme in coming months.
The services producer price index, which measures the prices
companies charge each other for services, rose 1.8% in fiscal
2022, higher than a 1.2% increase in the previous year, BOJ data
showed on Tuesday. It was the fastest pace of increase since
fiscal 2014, when it rose 3.3%.
In March, the index rose 1.6% from a year ago, marking the
25th straight month of year-on-year increase, the data showed.
It followed a revised 1.7% gain in February.
The gain in March was driven largely by a rebound in inbound
and domestic tourism with hotel fees up 32.4% from a year
earlier, reflecting the government's removal of COVID-19 curbs,
the data showed.
The data came after top companies agreed to their largest
pay increases in a quarter century in annual labour talks with
unions in March, a sign the country may be finally shaking off
the public's sticky deflationary mindset.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Messaging: leika.kihara.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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