DJ: Jan Core CPI -0.2% On Year

TOKYO--Japan's core consumer price index fell 0.2% in January from a year earlier, with high energy prices helping to offset the extent of the decline, the government said Friday.

The fall was exactly as expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei, who estimated the index would fall 0.2%.

In December the index--which excludes fresh food--dropped by 0.2%.

The figure, released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, forecasts a tough road ahead for the central bank to reach its 2% inflation target.

Core CPI for the Tokyo metropolitan area fell 0.6% on year in February. The pace of decline in Tokyo-area consumer prices, an early indicator of price trends for the rest of Japan, was in line with fall of 0.6%, before seasonal adjustment that analysts surveyed by Dow Jones and Nikkei had forecast.