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Texas Tech ends Buffalo’s best season in 2nd round

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-Second Round-Texas Tech vs Buffalo
Mar 24, 2019; Tulsa, OK, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Jarrett Culver (23) shoots the ball between Buffalo Bulls forward Nick Perkins (33) and guard Dontay Caruthers (22) during the second half in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at BOK Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

March 25, 2019

Sophomore guard Jarrett Culver recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech mauled Buffalo 78-58 on Sunday in NCAA Tournament second-round play at Tulsa, Okla.

Senior center Norense Odiase added 14 points and a career-best 15 rebounds as third-seeded Texas Tech (28-6) cruised in the West Region contest. Senior guard Matt Mooney and sophomore guard Davide Moretti had 11 points apiece and senior forward Tariq Owens had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech will face second-seeded Michigan in the Sweet 16 in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday.

Senior forward Nick Perkins registered 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for sixth-seeded Buffalo (32-4), which scored its fewest points of the season. Senior guard CJ Massinburg added 14 points and junior guard Davonta Jordan had 13.

The Bulls shot just 37.3 percent from the field and were 9 of 26 from behind the arc.

The Red Raiders held a 46-29 rebounding edge while shooting 48.2 percent from the field, including 5 of 16 from 3-point range.

Texas Tech started fast and finished strong while taking a 33-25 halftime advantage.

The Red Raiders held a 19-6 lead after sophomore forward Deshawn Corprew drained a 3-pointer with 11:10 left. Buffalo answered with a 19-5 surge to take its only lead of the game at 25-24 on Jordan’s 3-pointer with 3:26 remaining.

Texas Tech scored the final nine points of the half for the eight-point cushion and continued the rampage with an 18-3 burst to start the second half. The Bulls missed their first 10 field-goal attempts of the second stanza.

Culver buried a 3-pointer to increase the margin to 48-28 with 14:15 left and the lead reached 23 before Harris converted a basket with 12:27 remaining to end Buffalo’s field-goal drought of 10:59.

A short time later, freshman guard Kyler Edwards drained back-to-back 3-pointers and Odiase scored on a putback during a 9-0 push to give the Red Raiders a 62-33 advantage with 9:18 remaining.

Buffalo never put up a charge while suffering a disappointing end to the best season in program history.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Greece limits foreclosure protection after financial crisis

Lawmakers in Greece have begun debating tougher regulations to deal with household insolvency after the financial crisis left nearly half of mortgages and commercial loans non-performing or in distress.

The debate started Wednesday at a parliamentary committee despite failure by the government so far to finalize an agreement with bailout creditors on details of the new regulations.

Roughly 47 percent of Greek loans had soured by late last year after unemployment and poverty soared during eight years of crisis and international bailouts. Banks have promised to reduce that level to below 20 percent by the end of 2021.

During the crisis, distressed mortgage holders were protected from foreclosure of primary family residences, but the new rules would limit the safeguards to low-income families.

Source: Fox News World

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Uber, Didi slam Mexico City’s new rules on ride-hailing, including cash ban

The logo of Uber is pictured during the presentation of their new security measures in Mexico City
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Uber is pictured during the presentation of their new security measures in Mexico City, Mexico April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Ginnette Riquelme

April 26, 2019

By Julia Love and Noe Torres

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Uber, Didi Chuxing and other ride-hailing firms on Thursday criticized a host of new regulations of the sector in Mexico’s capital city, which include a ban on cash fares that could exclude many potential customers who lack bank accounts.

Mexico City’s government on Wednesday issued rules that prohibit cash payments for ride-hailing services, require drivers to register with the city, and ban the use of cheaper cars, among other measures.

The regulation marks a setback for San Francisco-based Uber in one of its largest markets ahead of a planned initial public offering. The company has fought hard for the right to accept cash fares in Mexico, arguing that it is a critical tool to reach the millions of Mexicans who do not use credit or debit cards.

In a joint statement, Uber, China’s Didi, Spain’s Cabify and Greece’s Beat said Mexico City’s government agreed in February to work with the sector as it updated regulation. But the new rules were issued “unilaterally and without prior dialogue,” the firms said.

“We are concerned that, as it stands, this reform creates a series of barriers to entry,” the companies said in a joint statement, which was also signed by Estonia’s Bolt and Mexico’s Laudrive. They also noted that drivers could see a hit to their earnings.

Mexico City’s transport ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Minister Andres Lajous told a news conference that the rules were aimed at rooting out corruption and leveling the playing field for ride-hailing firms and taxi drivers.

The regulation also prohibits pre-paid cards, which are frequently used by tech companies in Mexico to reach customers who do not have credit or debit cards.

Uber began accepting cash in Mexico City last year after Mexico’s Supreme Court struck down a ban on cash fares in the western state of Colima.

Uber said in a separate statement on Wednesday that the Mexico City regulation contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision, which it argues should be used as a precedent nationwide.

(Reporting by Julia Love and Noe Torres, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

Source: OANN

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Three UK Conservatives quit party over Brexit

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Three pro-EU lawmakers from Britain's governing Conservatives quit over the government's "disastrous handling of Brexit" on Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union. Edward Baran reports.

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Officer's lawyers: No resentencing needed in fatal shooting

Lawyers for the white Chicago police officer convicted of murder for fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald say prosecutors have no right to challenge his nearly 7-year prison term.

Attorneys for Jason Van Dyke made the arguments in a filing Monday with the Illinois Supreme Court. They say the sentence is consistent with state law.

Illinois' attorney general and the case's special prosecutor have filed a petition to the high court, disputing the legal basis the judge used to sentence Van Dyke.

Van Dyke was convicted last year of second-degree murder and 16 aggravated battery counts. A judge sentenced him last month on just the second-degree murder conviction, ruling it was more serious.

Prosecutors want the 40-year-old sentenced on the aggravated battery counts, which could result in a longer prison term.

Source: Fox News National

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Golf: Ko holds on for first major victory, wins ANA by three shots

LPGA: ANA Inspiration - Final Round
Apr 7, 2019; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Jin Young Ko tees off on the sixth hole during the final round of the ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills CC - Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

April 8, 2019

(Reuters) – Ko Jin-young clinched her first major victory when she fended off a challenge from fellow South Korean Lee Mi-hyang in the final round at the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California on Sunday.

Ko had a one-shot lead with three holes to play following two quick bogeys, but a perfectly-judged 10-foot birdie putt at the 16th proved the decisive blow at Mission Hills.

She clinched in style with another birdie at the last for a two-under-par 70, beating Lee by three strokes and becoming the fifth Korean to win the event.

Ko, last year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, finished at 10-under 278, while Lee carded 70 for second place, a shot ahead of American Lexi Thompson (67).

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: OANN

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Kevin Hassett to critics of Trump’s tax overhaul: If tax cuts didn’t cause job growth, ‘was it the Martians?’

Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett claims President Trump’s tax overhaul helped promote job growth saying, “The question I would ask a critic of the tax cuts, if it wasn't the tax cuts and it wasn’t our deregulation, then what was it? Was it the Martians?”

Hassett asked the question on “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ comments during a Fox News town hall Monday, when the 2020 presidential hopeful urged President Trump to release his tax returns on the same day he released 10 years of his own tax information.

At the fiery town hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, sparks flew almost immediately, as the Vermont senator defiantly refused to explain why he would not voluntarily pay the massive new 52 percent "wealth tax" that he advocated imposing on the nation's richest individuals.

SANDERS RELEASES TAX RETURNS -- WHAT DO THEY SHOW?

For his part, Hassett said, “The thing that I would actually, if I had been at a town hall meeting with anyone who is a critic of our policies... the thing that I would remind folks, and I think it’s important to remind folks now, is that if you go back to 2016, The Congressional Budget Office, it’s nonpartisan, it forecasted what 2018, last year, would look like and they said that the economy that President Trump inherited would create 58,000 jobs a month. If you look at what we did last year, we created about 206,000 jobs a month and so there’s a big, big increase in growth and job creation and wages that must be explained by something.”

He then asked if “Martians” or “Magic Sauce” were responsible for the dramatic increase in job creation.

TRUMP TOUTS TAX CUTS SUCCESSES IN TRIP TO MINNESOTA, KEY VOTING STATE IN 2020 ELECTION

President Trump spent his tax filing day in Minnesota, where he touted the $1.5 trillion package of corporate and individual tax cuts he signed into law in 2017.

When asked if he thinks the president will ever release his tax returns, Hassett said the “president will make that decision on his own.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He added, “It goes back to the election and I think if the American people were concerned about it, he wouldn't be president.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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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