Moreover, an aging Japanese population will add to the government's budgetary burden in coming decades. In addition to making policymakers more reluctant to use expansionary fiscal policies in the first place, Japan's large national debt may dilute the effect of fiscal policies in those instances when they are used.
In the event, it came in at 2¼ per cent, while the headline figure was 2.6 per cent. Some of this was due to the increase in the oil price, but some of it was more general, as indicated by the fact that the December quarter CPI came in above all forecasters' estimates.