Deflation returns to Japan’

Saturday, November 21, 2009
TOKYO: Japan’s central bank left its super-low interest rates unchanged on Friday as the government declared for the first time in more than three years that Asia’s biggest economy is in a phase of deflation. Concerns are mounting that a long bout of falling consumer prices could threaten Japan’s recovery from its worst recession in decades, eating into corporate profits and prompting consumers to put off purchases. “The recent price falls are not right and worrisome. This is one of the major policy issues right now,” Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii told a news conference