The consumer price index excluding fresh food rose 1.5% in April from a year earlier in Tokyo, the smallest gain since March 2022, according to the internal affairs ministry. | BLOOMBERG

Tokyo’s key inflation gauge unexpectedly slowed on the back of expanded subsidies for childcare, staying below the Bank of Japan’s target in a result that supports the bank’s cautious approach toward resuming interest rate hikes.

The consumer price index excluding fresh food rose 1.5% in April from a year earlier in the capital, the smallest gain since March 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday. That marked five straight months in which the pace slowed — the longest such streak since 2009 — and was weaker than the median economist forecast of 1.8% growth.

A separate measure that also strips out energy to reflect underlying strength increased 1.9%, the slowest pace in just over a year.…