India faces an energy shock but can seize the moment to build a more resilient economy
The world has been through this before. Oil prices spike, supply chains shudder and emerging economies absorb the pain while advanced nations reach for their strategic reserves. But the conflict now roiling West Asia carries a twist that policymakers must not overlook: this is not a health shock, as covid was.
It is an energy shock rooted in geopolitics. This distinction matters.When covid struck, the blow fell directly on final consumption and production. Today’s shock is upstream, striking at the intermediate inputs that power virtually everything else.
That changes the transmission mechanism, policy toolkit and likely duration of pain. Comparisons with the 1973 Opec embargo or 1979 Iranian Revolution are more useful; the latter saw India turn to the International Monetary Fund in 1981 for its then-largest loan of 5 million special drawing rights. The magnitude is serious: crude prices for the Indian basket surged to $112 a barrel in March this year from $69 just a month earlier.
Even after a favourable change in the mix, household liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) costs jumped from ₹853 per 14.2kg cylinder to ₹913 in a fortnight, and quantity restrictions threaten to compound the damage. Oil and gas account for nearly a third of India’s import bill. A rise in crude prices widens the current account deficit, stokes inflation and places an additional fiscal burden.Our projections suggest that if the Indian basket stabilizes near $125 per barrel by end-June, macroeconomic damage will be manageable.
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