TOKYO—Japan’s core consumer inflation likely slowed in January from the previous month, a Reuters poll showed, reinforcing expectations the country’s central bank will lag well behind other economies in raising interest rates. Separate data is also expected to show Japan likely ran the biggest trade deficit in eight years in January as persistent rises in fuel and raw material costs swelled imports, according to economists polled by Reuters. The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI) likely rose 0.3 percent in January from a year earlier, slowing from a 0.5 percent gain in December, the poll of 16 economists showed on Friday. The slowdown is largely due to one-off factors such as the base effect from a suspension of the government’s travel discount campaign in late 2020. When stripping away such temporary factors, consumer inflation is likely to be perking up, analysts say. “Imported goods prices have been rising, and the …