Japan’s wholesale prices up 5.1% in May, slowest rise in 2 years

Japan’s wholesale prices accelerated at their slowest pace in about two years in May, gaining 5.1 percent from a year earlier, the Bank of Japan said Monday, with raw material costs higher but the impact of a weaker yen continuing to wane.

The prices of goods traded between companies gained for the 27th straight month, suggesting persisting inflationary pressure in Japan, where consumer inflation has remained above the BOJ’s 2 percent target for over a year.

The pace of increase slowed for the fifth month in a row, partly due to government subsidies to lower fuel costs. The May figure was the ...