Japan’s inflation ticked higher and exports rose, keeping the Bank of Japan on track for an interest rate hike in coming months as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi prepares an economic package aiming to soothe public discontent over rising living costs.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3% from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Friday, with rising costs for hotels, car insurance premiums and household durable goods exerting upward pressure on the gauge. That matched the median economist forecast. Prices climbed 2.9% in the previous month.

Consumer prices have advanced at or above the BOJ’s 2% target for 43 months, the longest such stretch since 1992. A closer indicator for price trends that also strips out energy accelerated to 3.1% fro

See Full Page