Japan's coincident economic index, which monitors critical indicators such as factory output, employment, and retail sales, rose to 114.1 in July 2025. This figure surpassed the initial estimate of 113.3 but declined from the revised June figure of 115.9, marking the lowest point since August 2024. This decline underscores concerns over high inflation, largely fueled by rising rice prices despite efforts by Tokyo to alleviate the impact through imports from the U.S., Thailand, and China. Economic risks have intensified due to uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policies. Concurrently, the Bank of Japan maintained its key short-term interest rate in July, keeping borrowing costs at their highest since 2008, and adjusted its core inflation forecast for the fiscal year 2025 to 2.7%, up from the previous prediction of 2.2% made in April.