日本消費者價格跌幅為十年來最快 - 引起擔心通縮

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Japan's consumer prices fall at fastest pace in decade, stoke deflation fears

Reuters Thu., December 17, 2020, 5:39 p.m. PST

By Kaori Kaneko and Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices dropped in November at their fastest pace in a decade as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand, stoking fears of a return to deflation and wiping out the benefits former premier Shinzo Abe's stimulus policies.

The weak data will keep the Bank of Japan, which is meeting for a two-day rate review ending on Friday, under pressure to maintain its massive stimulus program.

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile fresh food costs, fell 0.9% in November from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, matching a median market forecast.

It was the fourth straight month of falls and the fastest pace of year-on-year decline since September 2010.

While the drop was blamed largely on the government's travel discount campaign and weak energy prices, it underscored how sluggish domestic demand was in keeping a lid on prices and hobbling the recovery from a pandemic-induced slump.

"The resurgence in inflections [sic] will keep people home and an expected decline in winter bonus payments will prevent a pickup in consumption," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

"Consumer prices will keep falling heading into 2021."

The economy grew at the fastest pace on record in July-September, rebounding sharply from its biggest postwar slump, as exports and consumption recovered from the initial hit from the pandemic.

But analysts expect any further recovery to be modest as a resurgence in infections clouds the outlook.

The Japanese capital Tokyo, faced with acute strains on its medical system from the COVID-19 pandemic, raised its alert level to the highest of four stages on Thursday as the number of new cases spiked to a record daily high of 822.

Japan's cabinet on Tuesday approved a third supplementary budget to fund a $708 billion stimulus package, to speed up the economic recovery from its COVID-induced decline.

The government plans a record-high $1.03 trillion budget for the next fiscal year to maintain its support for companies and households hit by the pandemic, sources have told Reuters.

Translation

東京（路透社）- 由于冠狀病毒大流行打擊消費者需求，日本的核心消費者價格在11月以十年來最快的速度下降，引起了人們對通縮的擔憂，並抹去了前首相安倍晉三的刺激政策帶來的好處。

疲軟的數據將使日本央行, 在其周五結束為期兩天的利率審查中, 受壓力去維持其大規模刺激計劃保持不變。

週五政府數據顯示，剔除波動的新鮮食品價格, 核心消費者價格較上年同期下降0.9％，與市場預期中位數相符。

這是連續第四個月跌幅，是自2010年9月以來最快的年同期比跌幅。

雖然下降主要歸因於政府的旅行折扣運動和能源價格疲軟，但它突顯了內需虛弱，從而限制了價格,並阻礙了由大流行引發的經濟衰退的復甦。

Norinchukin研究所首席經濟學家Takeshi Minami說： “感染死灰復燃將使人們留在家裡，冬季紅利的預期減少將阻止消費的增長。”

“消費者價格將持續下降到2021年。”

經濟在7月至9月創下了有史以來最快的增長速度，從戰後最大的滑坡中急劇反彈，出口和消費從冠狀病毒大流行的最初打擊中恢復了過來。

但分析人士預計，隨著感染的再起使前景蒙上陰影，任何進一步的復甦都將是輕微的。

日本首都東京，面對因COVID-19病毒大流行而造成的醫療系統嚴重壓力，週四將其警報級別提高至四個階段中的最高水平，因為新病例數激增至創紀錄的每日最高822宗。

日本內閣週二批准了第三項補充預算，以資助一項達7,080億美元的刺激計劃，以加快復甦其因COVID導致的經濟下滑。

消息人士告訴路透社，政府計劃了一個創新高的1.03萬億美元的下年度預算，以支持受到大流行影響的公司和家庭。

              So, like many other countries, the coronavirus pandemic has hit consumer demand in Japan.