InsideJapan News Network

The price of consumer goods in Japan has risen for the first time in more than two years, the government announced today (May 27th).

A 0.6 per cent year-on-year rise was recorded in the core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, but includes items such as tobacco and petrol, the Associated Press reports.

This is the first such rise since December 2008, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

However, a leading economist has said that this increase in prices is not necessarily an indication that Japan has emerged from the recent period of deflation.

Hiroshi Watanabe, from the Daiwa Institute of Research, said: "Overall, Japan's economy still remains under deflationary pressure as the economy has yet to post a steady recovery."

Japan is the world's third-largest economy, but it has been dealing with deflation ever since the 1990s.

Written by Susan Ballion