Japan's April consumer prices post biggest rise in two years

TOKYO, May 26 (KUNA) -- Japan's core consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3 percent in April from a year earlier for the fastest expansion in two years due to higher energy prices, the government said Friday.
The Core CPI, which excludes volatile fresh foods, increased for the fourth straight month and posted the sharpest rise since April 2015, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The gain was largely attributed to rising gasoline and electricity bills on the back of recovery in global crude oil prices, the ministry said in a report, adding that increasing cellphone prices also pushed up the core CPI.
In April 2013, the Bank of Japan launched an aggressive monetary stimulus to achieve the 2 percent inflation target in about two years to revive the Japanese economy, but now the central bank said its price goal would be reached in the year around fiscal 2018. (end) mk.rk