Developments in consumer prices  To begin with, let me talk about developments in consumer prices. The year-on-year rate of change in the CPI for all items less fresh food has been about 0 percent recently.
However, in the case where crude oil prices decline by about 50 percent in a short period, as they did for some months starting from last summer, the CPI excluding fresh food and energy (hereafter, the CPI excluding energy) becomes a more important indicator in assessing the underlying trend in inflation.