The preliminary Corporate Goods Price Index, which shows the prices of goods traded between companies, rose 8.2% in February compared to the same month in the previous year.
The rate of electricity and gas has been lowered due to the effect of the government's economic measures, so the growth has slowed down compared to January.
The corporate goods price index announced by the Bank of Japan last month was 119.3, with the average for 2020 set at 100, which was a high level following the record high in January.
On the other hand, the rate of increase slowed to 8.2% from January when it was 9.5%.
The slowdown in growth
was
mainly due to the economic measures implemented by the government, which pushed down electricity and city gas rates
.
, and the drop in the prices of petroleum and coal products, such as gasoline, also had an impact.
However, overall, out of the 515 items surveyed, 452 items, or about 87%, have increased in price, and companies continue to pass on the increase in raw material prices to sales prices.
The Bank of Japan said, ``The change has slowed down as import prices have fallen due to exchange rate fluctuations, but the situation remains highly uncertain. In addition, we will carefully monitor the movement of companies to pass on the costs to their prices."