Tokyo, Dec. 15 (Jiji Press)–Consumer inflation in Japan may approach the Bank of Japan’s 2 pct goal due to rising resources prices, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Wednesday.

“The pace of increase in consumer prices may get closer to 2 pct,” Kuroda said at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament.

Referring to a 0.1 pct rise in October’s core consumer prices, which exclude volatile fresh food prices, Kuroda said a cut in mobile communications fees drove down the index by around 1.5 percentage points.

The actual rise in consumer prices is “above 0.1 pct,” he said.

Kuroda brushed aside the possibility that high prices will dent consumption and trigger a recession.

The BOJ “will continue with monetary easing tenaciously,” he said.