According to the central bank, wholesale prices in Japan rose 7.2 percent in March from a year earlier, as raw material prices and the yen's weaker tone continue to weigh.
The corporate goods price index (CGPI), a gauge of prices for goods and services charged by companies to each other, came on the heels of an 8.3 percent increase booked in February, the data showed, with the latest reading coming in line with economists' expectations.
The slowing price increases of late will help take the edge off businesses and households nationwide suffering under an inflation-triggered cost of living crisis, analysts here said.
Unlike other major central banks, the BOJ has steadfastly stuck to its pledge of maintaining its ultra-low interest rate policy despite a widening interest rate gap between the BOJ and other central banks, and the yen's steep falls against the dollar and euro, and concerns over the long-term economic fallout of the bank's policy.
In his first press conference on Monday, new BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said that the bank's ultra-loose monetary policy remains appropriate.
Market strategists believe that while the central bank will stay committed to its policy directive for the time being, it will likely look to incrementally tighten its policy as and when it believes it is nearing achieving its inflation goal of 2 percent in a stable manner, and the decades-high inflationary pressure proves to be transitory, as the bank believes.
On the bank's future policy moves, Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., said recently that while the BOJ chief's remarks on the bank sticking with its ultra-loose monetary policy were largely expected, "we expect the bank to scrap the yield curve control program sooner than expected."
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