Japanese government data released Friday, showed that as companies have continued to pass rising costs on to households, the nation’s core inflation benchmark had risen to a new 40-year high last month.

The Japanese nationwide consumer price index, which includes energy costs, but excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose in November by 3.7% over one year prior, which roughly comported with market predictions as well as the 3.6% gain seen in the previous month. It was the biggest jump seen since December 1981.

The data marked a whole suite of goods seeing prices rise, from smartphones to fried chicken, to air conditioners.

Companies are planning to raise prices for more than 7,000 food products in the first four months of 2023, according to Teikoku Data Bank, a research firm. That is double the number of products seen in the same period this year.

The research firm warned, “We’ll likely see a rush in price hikes next year that could be more intense than this year,” due to companies facing rising labor and distribution costs.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan changed policy, surprising markets, and indicating that it may now begin to move away of a monetary policy emphasizing stimulatory rates in the face of inflation and economic slowdown.

The BOJ had announced it would be loosening tight limits it had placed on bond yields, which many interpreted to mean it would begin raising interest rates. Haruhiko Kuroda, the governor of the bank said the BOJ had no intention of rolling back stimulus, however, as inflation was on pace to drop below 2% next year.

In the third quarter of 2022, Japan’s economy unexpectedly contracted 0.8% year over year, as concerns of a global recession and higher import costs began to weigh on businesses and consumers.