Japan's reconstruction may fuel China's inflation

There might be an increase in commodity prices as a result of increased demand, and because of problems in Western Asia and North Africa, he added.

Louis Kuijs, senior economist at the World Bank's Beijing office, said that inflationary pressure is unlikely to diminish quickly, given the rise in energy prices and the already high price of food.

"There is still room for China to further tighten its monetary policy this year," said Nehru.

To soak up liquidity and control inflation, China's central bank raised the required reserve ratios for banks by 50 basis points last week, the ninth hike since the beginning of 2010. Before that, it raised interest rates in February for the third time since October.

China's consumer inflation rose to 4.9 percent in January and February from 4.6 percent in December. It hit 5.1 percent in November, a 28-month high.

Around one-fourth of East Asia's long-term debt is denominated in yen, ranging from around 8 percent in China to about 60 percent in Thailand. A one percent appreciation of the Japanese currency translates into a $250 million increase in annual debt servicing for the region, the World Bank said.

"As China holds a very limited amount of long-term debt, and that which is yen-denominated is even less in the portfolio, the impact (on China) will be very limited," said Kuijs.

The disaster in Japan drove up the yen last week on expectations that domestic retail and corporate investors will begin to "repatriate" money for the reconstruction efforts.

If history is any guide, real GDP growth in Japan will be negatively affected until the middle of the year. Growth should pick up in subsequent quarters as reconstruction efforts, which could last five years, accelerate, according to a supplement to the World Bank's semi-annual East Asia and Pacific Economic Update.