By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) – Over 90% of Japanese households expect prices to rise a year from now, a central bank survey showed on Thursday, higher than three months ago in a sign of broadening inflationary pressure that could heighten the case for further interest rate hikes.
The survey will be among factors the Bank of Japan will scrutinise when it meets for a two-day policy meeting ending on July 31.
The ratio of households expecting prices to rise a year from now hit 90.4% in June, the survey showed, up from 83.7% in the previous survey.
The survey also showed 86.1% of respondents expect prices to rise five years from now, up from 82.6% in the previous survey in March.
As the cost of living rose, 49.9% of households said they expect economic conditions to worsen a year ahead, up from 32.8% in March and hitting the highest level since December 2008, the survey showed.
(Reporting by Takahiko Wada and Leika Kihara; Editing by Sonali Paul and Jacqueline Wong)
