Asia's economic growth is at risk from high oil prices, International Monetary Fund managing director Rodrigo de Rato said Thursday, calling especially on Indonesia and the Philippines to combat inflationary pressures. The comments came on the same day that the price of benchmark crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange reached an all-time high of $68 a barrel -- about 50 percent more than a year ago. "We believe if high oil prices continue, Asian growth will be affected," de Rato told reporters in a video conference. Rato also said Asian central banks, especially in Indonesia and the Philippines, should use monetary policy to curb inflationary pressures generated by the high crude prices. Indonesia's currency has dropped to a 41-month low against the U.S. dollar, driving up the cost of dollar-based oil imports and threatening the country's economic growth. Rato urged the government to use monetary and fiscal policies "to reduce inflationary pressures which will sustain a strong currency, a stable currency." He said oil prices are likely to stay high, driven by strong demand from China, India and the United States. Inefficiencies in the supply of oil products and refinery bottlenecks have also put pressure on prices. "Demand forces and supply constraints" will keep prices high in the medium term, Rato said. Also Thursday, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the country must spend an extra $1.26 billion of its foreign exchange reserves for every $10-a-barrel increase in crude oil prices. Arroyo also ordered a newly created energy audit team to make sure government offices comply with her directive to cut power use by at least 10 percent. The Southeast Asian nation imports nearly all its petroleum. Japan's top financial bureaucrat said Thursday that a continued climb in oil prices may harm corporate profits and consumption in the world's second-biggest economy. "If oil prices continue their record-breaking gains, that may affect corporate profits and private spending (in Japan) and also the world's economy," Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hosokawa told a regular press conference. "We must closely watch movements in crude oil prices."