Tokyo - Japanese consumer inflation slowed to 2.5 percent year-on-year in November, down from 2.9 percent the previous month, as electricity and gas bills declined, government data showed Friday. The figure for the world’s third-largest economy, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, was in line with market expectations in a Bloomberg survey. It is the lowest increase in prices since July 2022, as electricity and gas bills declined while fees for accommodation and telecommunications rose, according to the internal affairs ministry. The data comes after the Bank of Japan earlier this week maintained its long-standing, ultra-loose monetary policy and offered no guidance on its plans for the new year, sending the yen down against the dollar and boosting stocks. Speculation had been swirling for weeks that officials would shift away from negative interest rates and the central bank’s tight grip on bond yields as prices tick above the central bank’s two-percent inflation target.

BoJ governor Kazuo Ueda has repeatedly said “a virtuous cycle of wages and prices” is needed to confirm that the bank’s inflation target can be achieved sustainably, in reference to an expected rise in wages early next year after annual union negotiations.

Stripping out fresh food and energy, Japan’s prices rose 3.8 percent, in line with market expectations.