YEREVAN, August 28, /ARKA/. The Bank of Japan’s key inflation gauge slumped to zero for the third time this year, as tumbling energy prices counter Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s effort to reflate the world’s third-biggest economy, vestifinance.ru reported citing Bloomberg.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food were unchanged in July from a year earlier, the Statistic Bureau said on Friday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast a 0.2 percent drop.

Other data for July released Friday provide a mixed picture for the start of the third quarter. Household spending unexpectedly fell, retail sales rose 0.6 percent from June, bouncing back from a 0.8 percent drop, while the job market remained tight. The job-to-applicant ratio rose to 1.21.

The economy is struggling to recover from a contraction last quarter, with manufacturers weighed down with the most inventory since 2009 and consumer confidence at a six-month low.

The yen was trading at 121.12 per dollar at 9:52 a.m. in Tokyo, gaining almost 3 percent amid global financial market turbulence following China’s currency devaluation earlier this month. U.S. oil prices have lost about 5.3 percent.

"It’s just a matter of time before CPI dips below zero as negative effects from cheaper energy intensify," said Kiichi Murashima, an economist at Citigroup Inc. -0-