US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday that inflation was becoming the top economic focus of many countries around the world as oil and food prices take their toll.

"When you look around the world broadly, I think inflation is the issue that, as I go around the world, is getting the number one focus," Paulson said in a television interview with BBC Newsnight.

"When you look at not just oil prices, but food in areas where there's poverty, this is a huge problem."    

Paulson, finishing a five-day trip to Russia, Germany and Britain, told Newsnight that that inflation was of major concern for Russia, where inflation has soared to a 15 percent annual rate recently, and for China.

But in the United States, Paulson said core inflation was "still relatively contained" due in part to a flexible labour market, although energy and food prices were a problem.

Paulson would not be drawn on whether the Federal Reserve should now start to raise rates.

"I just have great reverence and respect for the independence of our central banks -- your Bank of England and our Fed. They've got tough jobs to do," he said.

Paulson also defended President George Bush's economic and alternative energy policies, saying he was particularly supportive of Bush's stance favouring open investment and trade and his focus on new energy technologies and tax incentives for alternative fuels. - Reuters