Japan's wholesale prices rise at record pace; Ukraine to spur prices further

FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a protective mask walks past the headquarters of Bank of Japan amid the coronavirus disease (COVID19) outbreak in Tokyo

TOKYO: Japan's wholesale inflation accelerated in February at the fastest annual pace in roughly four decades on rising fuel costs, a sign inflationary pressures were building up even before the Ukraine crisis triggered a broad-based surge in commodity prices.

The recent war-driven spike in goods prices ranging from oil, metals to grain will likely keep pushing up wholesale prices in a fresh hit to Japan's resource-poor economy, which is heavily reliant on imported raw material, analysts say.