| Photo Credit: Reutersmore-inRising crude oil prices contributed to India’s trade deficit widening to $13.72 billion in April 2018, from $13.69 billion in March, and compared with the $13.25 billion shortfall in the same month last year, according to official data released on Tuesday. “Nevertheless, the continued rise in the crude oil price in the ongoing month does not augur well for the upcoming print of the merchandise trade deficit. “Assuming an average price for the Indian crude oil basket of $70/barrel, we expect the net petroleum, crude and products import bill to surge to $93 billion in FY2019 from $70 billion in FY2018,” Ms. Nayar added. While crude oil and petroleum imports increased by 41.5% in April, imports of non-petroleum items saw a contraction of 4.3%. The trade deficit widened last fiscal to $156.8 billion, from $108.5 billion in the previous year, mainly driven by a rising oil import bill.

Source: The Hindu May 15, 2018 17:15 UTC