Tokyo, March 10 : Spending by households in Japan fell in January from a year earlier, marking the third successive month of decline, the government said in a report on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, spending by households with two or more people dropped 0.3 percent to an average of 301,646 yen (2,214 U.S. dollars).

The statistics bureau's data is a barometer of private consumption.

Private consumption is one of Japan's key economic drivers accounting for more than half of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

The government said private consumption had slowed from a preliminary 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent.

This decline in private consumption has been due to soaring inflation resulting in rising price points in shops and supermarkets, as well as energy bills, with the yen's weakness further inflating prices and impacting household spending.