Inflation unlikely to spiral out of control in Asia, ADB chief says

HANOI, May 6 Kyodo - Some Asia-Pacific countries face ''very strong'' inflationary pressures, but they are unlikely to see inflation spiral out of control as they employ appropriate policy measures, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda said Friday.
''I'm quite sure that they will continue to be vigilant, and if necessary, they would further strengthen their policy measures to contain inflation in their economies,'' Kuroda said at a closing press conference of an annual ADB meeting in Hanoi.
''At this stage, I don't think inflation will spiral into a hyper or extremely high rate of inflation in this region,'' he said.
How to cope with rising inflationary pressures in the fast-growing region was one of the main issues for discussion at the four-day gathering in the Vietnamese capital that brought together a record number of around 4,000 delegates, including Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Kuroda said that along with credit tightening and other anti-inflation measures, exchange rate flexibility is another tool for curbing inflation, especially one driven by external factors such as soaring food and energy prices.
But the ADB chief said not all countries can pursue exchange rate flexibility because some may have ''a big space for exchange rate appreciation while some others may not have such a space.''
The ADB it will hold its next annual meeting in its home city Manila.