Finance
Commodity price volatility presents ‘substantial’ challenges: Finance Ministry
Bengaluru: The Union Finance Ministry said on Friday that the ongoing geo-political upheavals and the resultant volatility in prices of commodities globally, continues to be a cause of concern on the economic front, but added that there are enough macro-economic buffers to navigate these challenges.
“The unrelenting geopolitical tensions and volatility in global commodity prices, especially of petroleum products, present substantial multi-frontal challenges,” the ministry said in its latest Monthly Economic Review (MER), for the month of April 2024.
Nonetheless, the expectation is that the macro-economic buffers nurtured and strengthened during the post-Covid management of the economy will help the India navigate these challenges reasonably smoothly, the MER stated.
India’s retail inflation for April declined to a 10-month low of 4.83%, the second consecutive month below the 5% level. This was primarily due to easing of core inflation, even as food prices remained elevated.
There has been a continued decline in retail inflation since December 2023. It has been within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance range of 2-6 per cent for the seventh month in a row. However, it has been above the central bank’s medium-term target of 4 per cent for 54 consecutive months.
Primarily due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle-East, prices of the benchmark Brent crude have risen more than 6 per cent year-to date.
On Wednesday, the MER stated that as per all available high-frequency data, the strong performance of the Indian economy in 2023-24 has carried onto the current April-June quarter (Q1 of 2024-25).
“The Indian economy closed FY24 strongly with its growth surpassing market expectations, despite strong external headwinds. Early indications suggest a continuation of the economic momentum during the first quarter of FY25,” it stated.
It said that industrial activity is gaining momentum and fixed investment is gathering pace on the back of the focus the government’s capital spending. “The forward-looking surveys of the Reserve Bank also indicate improving consumer confidence and industrial outlook,” the report said.
Published 24 May 2024, 22:45 IST
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* When it comes to campaign finance laws, both parties’ campaign committees have faced restrictions on how much money they could spend in coordination with candidates’ campaigns. Those limits are now effectively gone.
As MS NOW’s Jordan Rubin explained, “The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority ruled for Republicans in their campaign finance challenge to restrictions on political parties spending on ads with input from the party’s candidate.”
A Punchbowl News report added that the ruling, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, “handed Republicans a massive win” and is likely to “usher in the biggest change to campaign finance law since the Citizens United decision.”
The same report went on to note that Tuesday’s high court ruling “allows for unrestricted coordination between candidates and party committees. That means committees, like the NRSC or the DCCC, can run unlimited TV ads with allied candidates. More importantly, they can also buy those ads at the much cheaper rate offered to candidates. … Tuesday’s SCOTUS ruling will also eradicate the need for independent expenditure arms at party committees.”
Republicans already enjoyed a significant financial advantage over Democrats. The Republican-appointed justices just made it easier for the GOP to capitalize on that advantage.
* In Colorado’s closely watched Democratic primaries, incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper fended off a challenge from the left, but some of his colleagues weren’t as fortune: Democratic socialist Melat Kiros ended long-serving Rep. Diana DeGette’s career in Denver’s congressional district, while state Attorney General Phil Weiser scored a major upset by defeating incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in a gubernatorial primary.
* In the race for North Carolina’s open Senate seat, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper leads former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in the latest New York Times/Siena poll, 50% to 43%, pointing to a possible pickup opportunity for Democrats.
Google Cloud and FactSet, a provider of data and artificial intelligence solutions to the financial markets, plan to jointly develop AI agents designed to assist with portfolio operations, deal advisory and corporate finance.
Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling changing certain federal campaign finance limits could make a big difference in the battle for control of Congress this fall, giving Republican candidates who have been getting outraised by opponents direct access to more party cash.
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