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

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

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Photo: Bloomberg

S Dinakar
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,