Japan’s average monthly household spending in 2015 fell 2.7 percent in price-adjusted real terms from the previous year to 247,126 yen for the second straight year of decrease, the government said Tuesday.
The drop followed a demand surge in the January to March period in 2014 before the consumption tax increase in April as well as weak sales of clothing due to an unusually warm winter, according to an official of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
The decline compares with a 3.2 percent drop in 2014.
In 2015, spending decreased 0.5 percent on food and 6.4 percent on clothing and footwear. Expenditures for furniture and other household items dropped 4.6 percent.
Household spending figures are a key indicator of private spending, which accounts for around 60 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
