Since early 2012, however, the reverse increasingly became the case and some governments, such as India, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand have loosened monetary policies as one of their policy measures to support domestic economic activity to counteract the repercussions from slowing external sectors. For countries with relatively high inflation, rising prices are often not due to increased demand or overheating but to supply shocks or rising production costs because of shortages of critical infrastructure. In some cases, rising prices are due to upward adjustment of administered prices or the removal of subsidies. One of the key shortfalls currently for many such economies is the enormous infrastructure gaps that exist between the requirements and actual investment. The availability of energy is the most immediate need for supporting economic activity.