The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said the nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), excluding volatile fresh food items in fiscal 2022, climbed 3.0 percent from a year earlier, marking the sharpest rise since 1981.
The headline figure has remained above the Bank of Japan's 2 percent inflation target for a complete year, the data showed, although government subsidies for household energy use helped soften energy prices, the data showed.
But while energy prices went down 3.8 percent, with electricity, gasoline and kerosene prices dropping from a year ago, food prices leapt 8.2 percent in March.
The rise in food prices was the largest in over 46 years, the ministry said, with those for durable goods surging 9.4 percent.
The core-core CPI, which excludes both fresh food and energy items, climbed 3.8 percent, the ministry said.
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