East Asia is suffering from a bad case of inflation. That was the diagnosis this week from the Asian Development Bank’s review of the region. The treatment is clear, Asia’s governments must make curing inflation the priority. Interest rates across Asia must start to rise.

East Asia has aggressively pursued growth for the last decade. When faced with large rises in the price of fuel and foods, governments did not curb demand. Although some Asian central banks have started tightening their monetary policy, it has been too little, too late. Inflation is now at record highs in South Korea and Malaysia. It has broken 25 per cent in Vietnam. Wages are already rising to chase prices.