Crude compulsions in Budget: Oil prices to put pressure on govt finances

Freeing the industry from administrative pricing could be the best way forward

The twin spectres of global recession and sticky inflation, which threaten to trip India’s growth prospects in 2023-24, may become a set of triplets amid oil and gas prices heading north. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman must be cognisant of a potential uptick in oil and gas rates to make realistic assumptions in the upcoming Budget. More so after Budget estimates for fuel prices this fiscal missed actuals by a mile thanks to the Russia-Ukraine war.

In 2023, crude oil and natural gas rates are expected to stay strong despite a global recession, as China, the world’s biggest energy user,