Consumer prices excluding fresh food dropped 0.1 percent in January from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. The median estimate was for a 0.2 percent decline, in a Bloomberg News survey of 28 economists.

“The data reconfirm Japan’s deflation is deeply rooted,” said Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JP Morgan Securities in Tokyo and a former central bank official. “The Bank of Japan will probably have to act more aggressively going forward.”

The central bank last month set an inflation goal of 1 percent and increased bond purchases by 10 trillion yen ($123 billion) to aid a recovery in the world’s third-biggest economy.

-- Editors: Paul Panckhurst, Lily Nonomiya

To contact the reporter on this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Panckhurst at ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-01/japan-consumer-prices-fall-for-fourth-month-adding-to-case-for-boj-easing.html

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