Japan core consumer prices up 1.4% in April, slowed by free school lunches

Japan's core consumer prices in April rose 1.4 percent from a year earlier, with the increase partly curbed by the launch of a free lunch program at public elementary schools, government data showed Friday.The increase in the nationwide consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food, followed a 1.8 percent rise in March and marked the lowest level since March 2022, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.Core-core CPI, which strips away both energy and fresh food to reflect underlying price trends, was up 1.9 percent in April.Energy costs fell 3.9 percent on ye…READ FULL ARTICLE