TOKYO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Core consumer prices in Japan increased in January, marking the first rise in 13 months, owing to improving prices for oil, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a report on Friday.
Excluding prices for fresh food due to their volatility, the core consumer price index edged up 0.1 percent in January, with the rise coming on the heels of a 0.2 percent slump in December, the ministry said in its latest report.
Energy prices overall continued a downward trajectory, falling 0.8 percent in the recording period, with the rate of decline slowing from 4.4 percent logged in December.
This was owing to a jump in prices for gasoline and for heating oil, which increased 11.2 percent and 19.7 percent respectively in the reporting period.
The ministry's data also showed that rising prices of foods, excluding perishables, increased 0.6 percent, and, accommodation and package tours to overseas destinations charting a continued upward path, helped boost the core CPI.
February's core CPI for Tokyo's 23 wards, widely regarded as a future indicator of the nation's broader inflation rate, fell 0.3 percent in February, which was the 12th consecutive monthly decline, the ministry also said.
