Yearender: Soaring oil prices threaten Asian economic growth

Leaders to a recent summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have vowed to cooperate in energy development to tackle with high oil prices.

.. The soaring global oil prices have become a major blow to Asia, which has accounted for nearly a half of world economic growth since 1999.

High reliance on imported oil, heavy fuel price subsidies and growing energy demand in emerging Asian economies have made the region particularly vulnerable to the surging oil prices.

With oil price hitting all-time high this year and staying stubbornly high, the world’s fastest growing region is now faced with inflationary pressures and a slowdown in GDP growth.

… Fuel price hike also threatens to hamper growth in fast growing industrial countries like China and India, the main growth engines in the region and also major energy consumers.

China View