2018.04.0223:20:00UTC+00Corporate Japan’s Inflation Expectations Flat in March - BOJ Survey

Corporate Japan expects to see only minimal inflation in a year and barely any change in the next three to five years, a central bank survey showed, emphasizing yet again the difficulty the Bank of Japan faces in reaching its 2 percent inflation target.

Companies surveyed by the Bank of Japan expect consumer prices to increase 0.8 percent a year from now, unchanged from their projection three months ago.

Firms also expect consumer prices to have risen by an annual 1.1 percent three years from now and 1.1 percent five years ahead, also unchanged from three months ago.

Japan's economy has grown for eight quarters, the longest continuous expansion since a 12-quarter stretch of growth between April-June 1986 and January-March 1989 around the height of Japan's economic bubble. However, this record run of growth has been slow to translate into higher consumer prices.

The nationwide core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food costs, increased 1.0 percent in February from the previous year, matching the median estimate, data last week showed.

However, a narrower measure of consumer prices that excludes fresh food and energy rose an annual 0.5 percent in February, highlighting the snail's pace of underlying inflation.

The tankan surveys will be among factors for the BOJ board to scrutinize when it meets for a two-day rate review ending on April 27.