Japan inflation falls back to zero in Jan

TOKYO: Japan’s inflation rate fell to zero in January, government data showed on Friday, in another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s three-year attempt to put an end to a years-long battle with falling prices.

Japan has suffered deflation—a debilitating drop in prices—off and on since the late 1990s and authorities have introduced various policies to fight it, including record low central bank interest rates.