Packed in: The Indian government is to cut fuel duty

China has said that rising oil prices will affect growth and now India, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand have said they too may feel the pinch.

The continent boasts some of the most dynamic economies in the world and relies heavily on imported oil.

Governments are introducing energy-saving measures and cutting duties to try and ease the economic impact.

Drag on growth

China is the world's third largest importer of oil and its demand for oil is rising in line with its own economic growth.

Rising oil prices could push Chinese inflation higher, discouraging consumers from spending and hitting company profits.

Already, it is expected to have to pay an extra $8.8bn (�4.8bn) to import its usual 880 million barrels of oil this year.

Earlier this week, State Information Centre senior economist Niu Li forecast that growth would slow to 9% from the forecast 9.8% this year.

Reports on Thursday suggested that China was willing to pay Russian rail fees to ensure it continued to get the oil it needs from troubled oil company Yukos.

Thailand switches off

Thailand has so far insisted that the energy crisis will not hit the country's economic growth, forecast to be 7% this year.

Lights will go out early in some Bangkok shops

Nonetheless, the government has decided to take action to cut the oil spending bill, following one estimate that the country will have to spend 40% more on importing oil than it did last year.

From next week, department stores will close at 8pm, gas stations will close at midnight and billboards will no longer be lit after 10pm. This should save the country 3bn baht ($72m).

In India, fears have centred on the impact on inflation.

The Indian government has cut customs and excise duties on many petroleum products, in a bid to curb rising inflation. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said gasoline and diesel customs duties would be cut from 20% to 15%.

Excise duty on kerosene has also been cut.

"The duty cuts will bring inflation down as of today. They should knock about one percentage point off the inflation rate," Saumitra Chaudhuri, chief economist at credit rating ICRA, said.

Rising import bill

Exports from the Philippines are still rising, but rising oil prices contributed to the creation of a $142m trade deficit in June. The same month last year saw a trade surplus of $132m.

However, exports could fall if demand from China and US starts to fall.

"Economic activity will be slower in the second half of the year because rising oil prices and interest rates will hurt the US economy and that will also affect Taiwan," Hermes Yang, an economist at KGI Securities, said.

Taiwan's industrial output is expected to have risen by only 8.4% in July, compared with the 15.7% rise seen in June - a slowdown attributed to cooling US and Chinese demand.