Tokyo: Japanese consumer inflation rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in April after the nation`s sales tax was hiked that month while household spending plunged, the government said Friday.
The rise in inflation, excluding volatile fresh food prices, was higher than a 1.3 percent increase in March, data from the internal affairs ministry showed.
The ministry also said April household spending fell by 4.6 percent from a year earlier and by 13.3 percent from March.
The spending jumped by 7.2 percent on-year in March as consumers stepped up their shopping ahead of the tax hike, the nation`s first sales levy rise in 17 years.
A separate survey by the ministry showed the jobless rate stood at 3.6 percent in April, unchanged from March and staying at the lowest rate in nearly seven years.
