Asia is not feeling the same price pressures as the West

INFLATION HAS shot to multi-decade highs in much of the rich world during the past year, with the effect of supply constraints, covid restrictions and a burgeoning economic recovery all helping to drive consumer prices higher. In Asia, however, pressure on prices is much weaker. Why?In much of the region—in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam—inflation is in fact below average levels over the decade before the pandemic, notes Abdul Abiad, director of macroeconomic research at the Asian Development Bank. Where it is higher than the average for 2010-2019—in Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand—it is by around two percentage points or less.