Here comes the inflation wave - get yer board out!

The outlook for UK inflation has "deteriorated markedly", the Bank of England governor Mervyn King has said. "The nice decade is behind us" BBC

"There are a number of structural reasons, both on the demand and the supply side, to suggest that commodities prices and food prices will remain firm and there could be substantial spikes and upward prospects in the months ahead," said Olaf Unteroberdoerster, the International Monetary Fund's resident representative in Hong Kong. An imminent US recession has weighed on financial markets this year, but surging food prices have fed a boom in the commodities market that shows no signs of slowing down - South China Morning Post 15/5/08

The US is already in a recession, but the greatest concern for Asia is inflation rather than the impact of crumbling American consumer demand on the region's growth, they said. The recession started late last year and could well resemble the worst slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Mr David Rosenberg, the chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch, warned. - Straits Times 15/5/08

Here it comes kids - keep paddling