Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano, speaking after the release of consumer price data on Friday, said that concerns over price rises could emerge within the next six months to a year. "I think there could come a time, within the next six months to a year, when we will become worried about prices rising," Yosano told a news conference.
"Regarding trends in prices, the government and the Bank of Japan have been wary of declines, but it is also necessary to be wary of them rising," he added.
Yosano said that price stability was desirable for people leading everyday lives and that even if deflation was defeated, it was not desirable for prices to keep rising without limits.
Data released on Friday showed that Japan's core consumer prices rose 0.5 percent from a year earlier in March, underscoring a slow and steady recovery from deflation.
Although that was a notch below the market's consensus forecast of a 0.6 percent rise, economists said the advance April data for the Tokyo-area showed a pick-up in the inflation rate despite anticipated downward pressure from some one-off factors.
The April Tokyo CPI showed a rise in the core inflation rate to 0.3 percent from 0.2 in February and March. Until recent months, the core nation-wide CPI had fallen for most of the past seven years, weighing on corporate profits and exacerbating banks' non-performing debt problems.