Japan's seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index remained unchanged at 44.7 in January 2018 from the previous month, while the percentage of people predicting prices to rise in the year ahead increased, Cabinet Office data showed.
Consumer perception regarding overall livelihood, income growth and willingness to buy durable goods worsened in the month. Only the subcategory of employment improved, to 49.7, up 0.7 point from December 2017.
Overall livelihood was 42.6, down 0.3 point; income growth was 42.9, down 0.1 point; while willingness to buy durable goods was 43.7, down 0.1 point.
The percentage of respondents who expect prices to go up in the year rose to 82.4% in January from 80% in December 2017; 11.5% expect prices to stay the same, down 1 percentage point; while 3.2% expect prices to go down, 0.8 percentage point lower.
