Weak demand, cautious price-setting keeping Japan inflation low – BOJ’s Amamiya

TOKYO – Japanese households’ weak pent-up demand and companies’ cautious price-setting behaviour are likely among factors keeping inflation low, Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya said on Tuesday.

“Overall demand has been relatively weak in Japan, and demand shifts from services to goods have been somewhat slow,” Amamiya said.

“Japan therefore has not seen a surge in goods prices like the one observed in the United States,” he said in opening remarks at a BOJ-hosted workshop with academics, held to look into structural factors behind the country’s low inflation.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)