Crude Oil Price Changes and Inflation: Evidence for Asia and the Pacific Economies

This paper examines the influence of crude oil price on inflation in eight Asian and two of the pacific economies, which are oil-importing countries. The period of investigation is from 1987M5 to 2019M12. The results of bounds testing for cointegration reveal that there is a stable positive long-run relationship between the consumer price index and crude oil price in most of these countries during the period of low and less fluctuating oil prices. However, the stable long-run relationship is found in eight countries, but this stable relationship is found only in one country during the period of high and more fluctuating oil prices. The long-run pass-through of crude oil prices to consumer prices is partial. In the short run, the relationship between a crude oil price change and inflation indicates that the short-run pass-through is low in most cases, but this pass-through is more apparent during the period of high and more fluctuating oil prices. Therefore, the structural break seems to matter in the pass-through of crude oil price to consumer prices in both the long and short run. The findings suggest accommodative monetary policy measures to alleviate the inflation rate.