ADB keeps Lanka’s growth figures intact, but says oil shocks and erratic weather patterns is fanning inflation

The Asian Development Bank kept Sri Lanka’s growth figure at 5.
5 percent of GDP but warned that pass through oil shocks and erratic weather conditions is fanning inflation in the South Asian region. The Asian Development Bank kept Sri Lanka’s growth figure at 5.5 percent of GDP but warned that pass through oil shocks and erratic weather conditions is fanning inflation in the South Asian region.

The rise in world oil prices is
unlikely to affect developing Asian nations as severely as earlier oil shocks,
but the region will still be hurt by sustained price increases, according to a
major ADB report released Wednesday.

The

Asian Development Outlook 2004 Update (ADO Update), which forecasts economic
trends in the region, notes that the long-term policy implications of these
findings are a need to phase out fuel subsidies and adopt measures to encourage
the more efficient use of oil.