AI Data Insight
Japan's newly released Q3 (August 2026) CPI month-over-month growth rate dropped to 0.1%, slowing down significantly from the previous month's 0.5%, primarily suppressed by government energy subsidy policies. Despite the cooling MoM growth, taking into account the potential inflation risks driven by wage increases and rising import costs, the Bank of Japan still announced a rate hike to 1.25% as scheduled.