The Bank of Japan released its latest quarterly economic report on its outlook for prices on Wednesday. The central bank now expects the inflation rate to exceed its 2 percent target for four straight years.
The BOJ has lowered its inflation forecast for fiscal 2024. It now expects prices to increase by 2.5 percent, down 0.3 percentage points from its April projection.
The new forecast incorporates the impact of the government subsidies for electricity and gas charges to be implemented for the three months from August.
But the bank raised its forecast for the next fiscal year to 2.1 percent, compared to the previous 1.9 percent. It has maintained its figure for 2026 at 1.9 percent.
If the forecasts are realized, the inflation rate will exceed the BOJ’s 2 percent target for four years in a row through fiscal 2025.
These are the median forecasts for the consumer price index, excluding fresh food.