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House Armed Services Chairman Denies Pentagon's $1B Transfer for Trump Wall

The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Tuesday denied the Pentagon's plan to shift $1 billion to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, intensifying the conflict over President Donald Trump's signature campaign pledge.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan announced on Monday that the Department of Defense had shifted $1 billion from other military construction projects in order to help pay for the barrier along the southern border.

Democratic Representative Adam Smith, the committee's chairman, said the committee did not approve the proposed use of Pentagon funds.

"DoD is attempting to circumvent Congress and the American people's opposition to using taxpayer money for the construction of an unnecessary wall, and the military is paying the cost," Smith said in a statement.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Sol Wisenberg: Barr would be ‘derelict in his duty’ if he didn’t investigate spying allegations

Former deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg on Thursday defended Attorney General Bill Barr's Capitol Hill comments that federal authorities had spied on the Trump campaign in 2016.

"It's a big deal when a presidential campaign is spied on by the government particularly when the government is in the hands of the opposition party," Wisenberg told Fox News."It doesn't mean anything was necessarily done that was wrong - and Barr has said that - but it's a big deal and he would be derelict in his duty if he didn't look into it."

Wisenberg added that Barr, who is facing accusations by Democrats that he is not acting "in the best interest of the DOJ or the country," is merely doing his job.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: BARR IS RIGHT TO REVIEW WHY TRUMP-RUSSIA INVESTIGATION BEGAN

"Bill Barr is all about restoring the integrity of the Department of Justice and that's part of it - to see if anything that was done was wrong," he said.

On Wednesday, Barr testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that he thought "spying did occur."

"The question is whether it was adequately predicated... Spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr said. He later clarified, "I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred; I’m saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it, that’s all.”

HANS VON SPAKOVSKY: DEMS WRONG TO ATTACK BARR FOR TELLING TRUTH ABOUT FED SPYING ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN

There has been mounting evidence that the FBI looked into ways to gather intelligence from within the Trump campaign, including pursuing warrants to surveil a former Trump aide in 2016.

Wisenberg, a Fox News contributor, also weighed in on President Trump's comments that the Muller investigation into him was "an attempted coup" and an "attempted takedown of a president."

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

"Every president who's ever been investigated has claimed an attempted coup. Nixon said it in Watergate. Bill Clinton said it in Whitewater and Lewinsky so that's par for the course," Weisenberg said. "The president has made a number of false statements about the case. I understand that he's upset but he's made a number of demonstrably false statements."

Source: Fox News Politics

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DoubleLine’s Gundlach calls Modern Monetary Theory a ‘crackpot’ idea

FILE PHOTO: Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital LP, presents during the 2018 Sohn Investment Conference in New York
FILE PHOTO: Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital LP, presents during the 2018 Sohn Investment Conference in New York City, U.S., April 23, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

March 12, 2019

(Reuters) – Jeffrey Gundlach, the chief executive of DoubleLine Capital and Wall Street’s Bond King, called the increasingly popular theory backed by progressives – the Modern Monetary Theory – a “crackpot” idea.

Gundlach, who oversees more than $123 billion, said on an investor webcast on Tuesday that Modern Monetary Theory is “complete nonsense” being used to justify a socialist program.

(Reporting by Jennifer Ablan and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: OANN

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Dollar shored up by strong U.S. data, commodity currencies sag

FILE PHOTO: Photo illustration of one hundred dollar notes in Seoul
FILE PHOTO: One hundred dollar notes are seen in this photo illustration at a bank in Seoul January 9, 2013. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

April 12, 2019

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar held firm on Friday after strong U.S. labor and inflation data soothed concerns about the world’s largest economy, while falling oil prices weighed on commodity-linked currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was steady at 97.166 after climbing 0.25 percent the previous day.

The index was headed for a weekly loss of 0.25 percent, having stumbled at the start of the week as Treasury yields fell in the wake of a mixed March U.S. non-farm jobs report.

Data released on Thursday showed first-time filings for U.S. jobless benefits dropped to a 49-1/2-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength. Overall producer prices increased 0.6% in March, the largest rise since October.

The dollar was little changed at 111.72 yen after gaining 0.6 percent overnight on the robust U.S. data and the subsequent rise in U.S. Treasury yields.

The greenback’s advance, however, stalled ahead of the 112.00 yen threshold.

“Many market players had taken a bearish view on the dollar after the U.S. CPI numbers released earlier in the week, but they were forced to abruptly cover short positions as Thursday’s data proved to be strong,” said Takuya Kanda, general manager at Gaitame.Com Research Institute.

“The rise thus lacked conviction and it remains to be seen if the dollar can sustain its bounce. The prospect of a rate cut by the Fed may have diminished in light of the data, but economic views are not yet strong enough to support rate hike expectations,” Kanda said.

The dollar had sagged on Wednesday after a mixed report on domestic consumer prices reinforced the notion that underlying U.S. inflation remains tame.

The pound was steady at $1.3053 after dipping 0.25 percent the previous day against the broadly firmer dollar.

Volatility for sterling plunged after a midweek deal at an emergency European Union summit to postpone Britain’s exit from the bloc to Oct. 31 meant it would not crash out this week without a treaty to smooth its passage. [GBP/]

The Canadian dollar was more or less steady at C$1.3385 per dollar after shedding 0.5 percent the previous day as crude oil prices retreated from five-month highs.

The Australian dollar dipped 0.1 percent to $0.7117 to extend losses from a day earlier, when it sank 0.7 percent.

A decline in copper prices and political uncertainty were also seen weighing on the Aussie.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday announced a general election to be held on May 18.

The New Zealand dollar, also sensitive to shifts in commodity prices, slipped to $0.6714, its lowest since Jan. 22.

The euro nudged up 0.1 percent to $1.1262 after losing 0.2 percent on Thursday. The single currency has risen about 0.4 percent this week.

(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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Bernie Sanders: Biden Accuser ‘Right’ to Complain She’s Not Being Taken Seriously

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I.-Vt., said Sunday that Joe Biden accuser Lucy Flores “is absolutely right” to complain she’s not being taken seriously — but that he’s not sure “one incident” would disqualify the former vice president should he run in 2020.

In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation," Sanders, who has declared his intention to again seek the presidential nomination, declared, “I have no reason not to believe Lucy.”

“I’m not sure that one incident alone disqualifies anybody, but her point is absolutely right,” he added. “This is an issue not just for Democrats or Republicans, but the entire country has got to take seriously. It is not acceptable that when woman goes to work or is in any kind of environment that she feels anything less than comfortable and safe. And this is an issue the entire country has got to work on. 

He says his own campaign, which faced numerous sex allegations, has “established the strongest protocol to prevent this from happening of any campaign in history.”

Sanders also warned that President Donald Trump’s “idea” of healthcare would mean “thousands will die.”

His idea is to throw 32 million off of the health insurance they have,” he said.

“If Trump gets his way, the cost of health insurance for you will be so high that many people literally will not be able to afford it. Thousands of people will literally die," he said. "That's Trump's health insurance plan.”

He also said he'll resist any Trump attempt to cut aid to three Central American countries.

“You can stop it by overriding what he's doing and making sure we fund these programs,” he said. “[W]hat we need to do, of course, is comprehensive immigration reform, but we need to make sure that our borders are secure, but also we need a humane policy at the border in which we are not yanking tiny children from the arms of their mother.“

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Next DHS Secretary should be Kevin McAleenan, former CBP Chief Mark Morgan says

Amid Kirstjen Nielsen's resignation as Homeland Security secretary on Sunday, the department's commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, has stepped in as acting director, and Obama-era border patrol chief Mark Morgan says McAleenan is the right man for the job.

Calling McAleenan "extremely intelligent," Morgan explained that the new acting secretary comes to the Homeland Security position with more than a decade of experience working specifically in the border security domain.

"He's seen this and been there every day, working hard, since 2014 -- from the start to where we're at now," Morgan said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" on Monday morning.

The decision to make McAleenan the acting secretary is somewhat controversial, as it supercedes Deputy Secretary Claire Grady, who should be next in line for the role after Nielsen departs. Nielsen said she will stay on through April 10 to assist in the transition, but there are some issues that need to be ironed out in order for McAleenan to formally take the role.

KEVIN McALEENAN, NEW ACTING DHS BOSS, HAS LONG RECORD IN BORDER SECURITY

The DHS has come under fire over the last two years first over the initial choice of Nielsen as Secretary, given that her background was in cybersecurity, and in recent months, for practices involving separating children from their families at the border

The DHS has come under fire over the last two years first over the initial choice of Nielsen as Secretary, given that her background was in cybersecurity, and in recent months, for practices involving separating children from their families at the border (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FORMER ACTING ICE DIRECTOR TOM HOMAN: TRUMP MADE THE RIGHT MOVE PICKING McALEENAN FOR DHS

Morgan continued by discussing that a high-level change gives a "jump-start" to the department and signals a new direction. DHS has come under fire over the past two years first over the initial choice of Nielsen as secretary, given that her background was in cybersecurity and, in recent months, for practices involving separating children from their families at the border.

The combination of the 1997 Flores argeement and the TVPRA comprises the government's "catch-and-release" policy -- barring DHS from keeping children in custody and away from their families for more than 20 days. The TVPRA rules that unaccompanied minors from Mexico or Canada are sent back to their home countries, but if they are from Central America, they remain in the United States, Morgan said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Morgan agreed with host Brian Kilmeade, however, that the issue of family separation was brought about by a contradiction of policies taken on by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in which he maintained that parents here illegally had to be sent back to their native countries, but kids would stay, often in a shelter.

"Congress has to fix those laws," Morgan said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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2 Indiana officers charged in beating of handcuffed man

Two Indiana police officers who repeatedly punched a handcuffed man have been charged with a civil rights crime.

Cory Newland and Joshua Titus of the Elkhart Police Department were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday. Police video shows them punching a man identified as M.L. after the man spat at Newland while sitting handcuffed in a chair in January 2018.

FBI agent Grant Mendenhall says his agency "won't tolerate the abuse of power" by police.

Newland and Titus were indicted on a charge of depriving M.L. of his rights through excessive force. They've been on leave since November and have pleaded not guilty to separate state charges . A message seeking comment was left with Elkhart police Friday.

Elkhart is in northern Indiana, 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Chicago.

Source: Fox News National

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Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London
Members of The Cranberries, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler and guitarist Noel Hogan speak to Reuters during an interview in London, Britain, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Gerhard Mey

April 26, 2019

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – Irish rockers The Cranberries are saying goodbye with their final album released on Friday, a poignant tribute to lead singer Dolores O’Riordan who died last year.

“In the End” is the eighth studio album from the band that rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits likes “Zombie” and “Linger”, and includes the final recordings by O’Riordan, who drowned in a London hotel bath in January 2018 due to alcohol intoxication.

Work on the album began during a 2017 tour and by that winter, O’Riordan and guitarist Neil Hogan had penned and demoed 11 tracks.

With O’Riordan’s vocals recorded, Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler completed the album in tribute to her.

“When we realized how strong the songs were, that was the deciding factor really… There was no point… trying to ruin the legacy of the band,” Noel Hogan said in an interview.

“It was obvious that Dolores wanted this album done because when you hear the album, you hear the songs and how strong they are, and she was very, very excited to get in and record this.”

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989 with another singer. O’Riordan replaced him a year later and the group went on to become Ireland’s best-selling rock band after U2, selling more than 40 million records.

O’Riordan, known for her strong distinctive voice singing about relationships or political violence, was 46 when she died.

“She was actually in quite a good place mentally. She was feeling quite content and strong and looking forward to a new phase of her life,” Lawler said.

“A lot of the lyrics in this album are about things ending… people might read into it differently but it was a phase of her personal life that she was talking about.”

The group previously announced their intention to split after the release of “In The End”.

“We are absolutely gutted we can’t play (the songs) live because that’s something that’s been a massive part of this band from day one,” Noel Hogan said.

“A few people have said to us about maybe even doing a one off where you have different vocalists… as kind of guests of ours. A year ago that’s definitely something we weren’t going to entertain but I don’t know, I think it’s something we need to go away and take time off for the summer and have a think about.”

Critics have generally given positive reviews of the album; NME described it as “(seeing) the band’s career go full-circle” while the Irish Times called it “an unexpected late career high and a remarkable swan song for O’Riordan”.

Their early songs still play on the radio. This week, “Dreams” was performed at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in Londonderry last week as she watched Irish nationalist youths attack police following a raid.

“We wrote them as kids, as a hobby and 30 years later they are on radio and on TV, like all the time… That’s far more than any of us ever thought we would have,” Noel Hogan said.

“That would make Dolores really happy because she was very precious about those songs. Her babies, she called them and to have that hopefully long after we’re gone… that’s all any band can wish for.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additoinal reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren participates in the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

April 26, 2019

By Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill Friday that offers new protections for U.S. military families facing unsafe housing, following a series of Reuters reports revealing squalid conditions in privately managed base homes.

The Reuters reports and later Congressional hearings detailed widespread hazards including lead paint exposure, vermin infestations, collapsing ceilings, mold and maintenance lapses in privatized base housing communities that serve some 700,000 U.S. military family members.

(View Warren’s military housing bill here. https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dy5aht)

(Read Reuters’ Ambushed at Home series on military housing here. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military)

The Massachusetts Democrat’s bill would mandate both regular and unannounced spot inspections of base homes by certified, independent inspectors, holding landlords accountable for quickly fixing hazards. The military’s privatization program for years allowed real estate firms to operate base housing with scant oversight, Reuters found, leaving some tenants in unsafe homes with little recourse against landlords.

The bill would also require the Department of Defense and its private housing operators to publish reports annually detailing housing conditions, tenant complaints, maintenance response times and the financial incentives companies receive at each base. The provisions aim to enhance transparency of housing deals whose finances and operations the military had allowed to remain largely confidential under a privatization program since the late 1990s.

The measure would also require private landlords to cover moving costs for at-risk families, and healthcare costs for people with medical conditions resulting from unsafe base housing, ensuring they receive continuing coverage even after they leave the homes or the military.

“This bill will eliminate the kind of corner-cutting and neglect the Defense Department should never have let these private housing partners get away with in the first place,” Warren said in a statement Friday.

The proposed legislation comes after February Senate hearings where Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, slammed private real estate firms for endangering service families, and sought answers about why military branches weren’t providing more oversight.

Her legislation would direct the Defense Department to allow local housing code enforcers onto federal bases, following concerns they were sometimes denied access. Warren’s office said a companion bill in the House of Representatives would be introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico.

In response to the housing crisis, military branches are developing a tenant bill of rights and hiring hundreds of new housing staff. The branches recently dispatched commanders to survey base housing worldwide for safety hazards, resulting in thousands of work orders and hundreds of tenants being moved. The Defense Department has pledged to renegotiate its 50-year contracts with private real estate firms.

Congress has been quick to take its own measures. Earlier legislation proposed by senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California, along with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, would compel base commanders to withhold rent payments and incentive fees from the private ventures if they allow home hazards to persist.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London
FILE PHOTO: Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) – Deloitte quit as Ferrexpo’s auditor on Friday, knocking its shares by more than 20 percent, days after saying it was unable to conclude whether the iron ore miner’s CEO controlled a charity being investigated over its use of company donations.

Blooming Land, which coordinates Ferrexpo’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, came under scrutiny after auditors found holes in the charity’s statements.

Ferrexpo on Tuesday said findings of an ongoing independent investigation launched in February indicated some Blooming Land funds could have been “misappropriated”. It did not provide any details or publish its findings.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry, were 23.4 percent lower at 206.1 pence at 1022 GMT following news of Deloitte’s resignation.

“Ferrexpo’s shares are deeply discounted vs peers … following the resignation of Deloitte, we expect downside risks to dominate Ferrexpo’s shares near term.” JP Morgan analyst Dominic O’Kane said in a note on Friday.

Swiss-headquartered Ferrexpo did not provide a reason for the resignation of Deloitte, which declined to comment, while Blooming Land did not respond to a request for comment.

Funding for Blooming Land’s CSR activities is provided by one of Ferrexpo’s units in Ukraine and Khimreaktiv LLC, an entity ultimately controlled by Ferrexpo’s CEO and majority owner Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo said on Tuesday.

Ferrexpo’s board has found that Zhevago did not have significant influence or control over the charity, but Deloitte said it was unable reach a conclusion on this.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact Zhevago.

In a qualified opinion, a statement addressing an incomplete audit, Deloitte said it had been unable to conclude whether $33.5 million of CSR donations to Blooming Land between 2017 and 2018 was used for “legitimate business payments for charitable purposes”.

Deloitte said on Tuesday that total CSR payments made to Blooming Land by Ferrexpo since 2013 total about $110 million.

Ferrexpo, whose major mines are in Ukraine, has said that the investigation was ongoing and new evidence pointed to potential discrepancies.

Zhevago, 45, who ranked 1,511 on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires for 2019 with a net worth of $1.4 billion, owns the FC Vorskla soccer club and has been a member of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Bernard Orr)

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Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba
Children walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique April 26, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media. SolidarMed via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer

JOHANNESBURG/LUANDA (Reuters) – Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.

The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1,000 people across a swathe of southern Africa.

The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600 millimeters of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice that brought by Cyclone Idai.

One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.

In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90 percent of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15,000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.

There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia district, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo.

A local group, the Friends of Pemba Association, had earlier reported that they could not reach people in Muidumbe, a district further inland.

Mark Lowcock, United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned the storm could require another major humanitarian operation in Mozambique.

“Cyclone Kenneth marks the first time two cyclones have made landfall in Mozambique during the same season, further stressing the government’s limited resources,” he said in a statement.

FLOOD WARNINGS

Shaquila Alberto, owner of the beach-front Messano Flower Lodge in Macomia, said there were many fallen trees there, and in rural areas people’s homes had been damaged. Some areas of nearby Pemba had no power.

“Even my workers, they said the roof and all the things fell down,” she said by phone.

Further south, in Pemba, Elton Ernesto, a receptionist at Raphael’s Hotel, said there were fallen trees but not too much damage. The hotel had power and water, he said, while phones rang in the background. “The rain has stopped,” he added.

However Michael Charles, an official for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said heavy rains over the next few days were likely to bring a “second wave of destruction” in the form of flooding.

“The houses are not all solid, and the topography is very sandy,” Charles said.

In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.

Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney and Stephen Eisenhammer; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Alexandra Zavis)

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A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

April 26, 2019

By Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Surging global oil prices will pose a first big challenge to India’s new government, whoever wins an election now under way, especially as domestic prices have been allowed to lag, meaning consumers are in for a painful surge as they catch up.

For oil-import dependent India, higher global prices could lead to a weaker rupee, higher inflation, the ruling out of interest rate cuts and could further weigh on twin current account and budget deficits, economists warned.

But compounding the future pain, state-run fuel suppliers and retailers have held off passing on to consumers the higher prices during a staggered general election, which began on April 11 and ends on May 23, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That delay is expected to be unwound once the election is over. And there could be additional price increases to make up for losses or profits missed during the period of delayed increases, the sources said.

In some major Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, pump prices are adjusted periodically so they move largely in tandem with international crude prices.

That was what was supposed to happen in India but the election means there have been many days when pump prices have been unchanged.

In New Delhi, for example, while crude oil prices have gone up by nearly $9 a barrel, or about 12 percent, in the past six weeks, gasoline prices have only risen by 0.47 rupees a liter, or 0.6 percent.

State-controlled fuel suppliers and retailers declined to say why they had delayed price increases, or discuss whether there has been any pressure from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A government spokesman declined to comment.

The opposition Congress party said Modi’s government was violating its own policy of daily price revision by advising the state oil companies to hold prices steady.

“The government should cut fuel taxes otherwise consumers will have to pay much higher oil prices once the elections are over,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a senior leader of the Congress party.

(GRAPHIC: India Polls: Fuel price hike lags crude surge – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XLlxik)

Nitin Goyal, treasurer at the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, representing fuel stations in 25 states, said prices were similarly held down for 19 days in the southern state of Karnataka last year, when it held state assembly elections.

Only for them to surge after the vote.

“Consumers should be ready for a rude shock of a massive jump in retail prices, similar to the level we have seen in the Karnataka state election,” Goyal said.

‘CREDIT NEGATIVE’

Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at Singapore-based consultancy FGE, said retail prices of gasoline and gasoil prices would have been up to 6 percent, or about 4 rupee, higher if they had been allowed to rise in line with global prices.

“Indian pump prices have failed to keep up with the recent uptrend in crude prices,” Paravaikkarasu said.

“With the country’s general elections underway, the incumbent government has been keeping pump prices relatively unchanged.”

India had switched to a daily price revision in June 2017 from a revision every two weeks, as the government allowed retailers to set prices.

But the government faced protests last October when retailers raised prices by up to 10 rupees a liter after the crude oil price went above $80 a barrel, forcing it to cut fuel taxes.

Global prices rose to their highest level in 2019 on Thursday, days after the United States announced all Iran sanction waivers would end by May, pressuring importers including India to stop buying Tehran’s oil. [O/R]

Higher oil prices will mean Asia’s third largest economy is likely to see growth of less than 7 percent rate this fiscal year, economists said. Growth slowed to 6.6 percent in the October-December quarter, the slowest in five quarters.

Rating agency CARE has warned that a 10 percent rise in global oil prices could increase demand for dollars, putting pressure on the rupee and widening the current account deficit.

India’s oil import bill rose by nearly one-third in the fiscal year ending March 31 to $140.5 billion, against $108 billion the previous year.

“The increase in international oil prices is a credit negative for the Indian economy,” ICRA, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said in a note.

“Every $10/ bbl increase in crude oil prices increases the fiscal deficit by about 0.1 percent of GDP.”

Any big price rise would also build a case for the central bank to keep rates steady, or even raise them.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which cut the benchmark policy repo rate by 25 basis points this month, warned that rising oil and food prices could push up inflation.

Policymakers are worried that a sustained increase in the oil price in the range of $70-75/barrel or higher can move the rupee down by 3-4 percent on an annual basis.

The rupee has depreciated by 1.24 percent against the dollar since a year high in mid-March.

($1 = 70.1800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Rob Birsel)

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