Tokyo, Jumada II 07, 1439, February 23, 2018, SPA -- Consumer prices in Japan were up 0.9 per cent from a year earlier in January for the 13th consecutive month of increase amid increasing energy prices, a government report showed Friday. The cost of petrol grew 8.8 per cent and that of electricity climbed 6.4 per cent, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. The core consumer price index, excluding fresh food, stood at 100.4 against a base of 100 for 2015, the ministry said. With the world's third-largest economy long plagued by deflation, the Bank of Japan launched a monetary easing campaign in April 2013, aiming to achieve a 2-per-cent inflation target within two years. But the reading in January was still far from the goal. --SPA 03:55 LOCAL TIME 00:55 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w620168