Japan's statistics bureau said real household spending by two-or-more-person households fell 3.1 percent in August from a year earlier, a ninth straight monthly decline.
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday that real household spending by households of two or more people fell 3.1 percent in August from a year earlier, Nikkei reported. Spending was 310,975 yen. The decline was the ninth in a row. Nominal spending fell 1.0 percent.
A QUICK survey of economists had a median forecast of a 3.6 percent real decline, Nikkei said. A bureau official attributed much of the drop to special factors, including heavy rain and typhoons.
Food spending fell 1.4 percent in real terms. Beverages fell 6.6 percent, a third monthly decline, which the report linked to bad weather and higher prices. Seafood fell 6.7 percent, with higher tuna prices and a smaller saury catch cited. Utility and water spending fell 5.2 percent, a sixth monthly drop, and electricity spending tied to July use fell 7.8 percent as cooling demand eased.
Kyodo's Friday digest also listed the 3.1 percent real decline. The figure is a government survey result, not a forecast.
The next official household survey will show whether September broke the nine-month run. Friday's release does not include a revised policy response.
People Sentiments Negative
- A statistics-bureau official told Nikkei that special factors, including bad weather, had a large effect on the decline.