Announcing the fuel-related decisions, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman on Saturday also listed out in detail the Government initiatives in different sectors against the backdrop of the “challenging international situation”.
“Today, the world is passing through difficult times. Even as the world is recovering from Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict has brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods. This is resulting in inflation & economic distress in a lot of countries,” Sitharaman said.
WPI or wholesale price inflation touched a record high of 15.08 per cent in April on price rise across all items. Retail inflation too rose to a near eight-year high of 7.79 per cent in that month, remaining above the RBI’s inflation target for the fourth straight month.
“Even during the pandemic, our Government set a paradigm of welfare, especially with PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. This is now acknowledged and appreciated the world over,” she said, referring to a scheme to provide free foodgrains to poor to help them tide over difficulties caused by a nationwide pandemic related lockdown.
“Despite the challenging international situation, we’ve ensured that there are no shortages/scarcity of essential goods. Even a few developed countries couldn’t escape some shortages/disruptions. We are committed to ensure that prices of essential items are kept under control,” she said.
The Finance Minister said despite rising fertilizer prices globally, the Government has protected farmers from such price hikes. “In addition to the fertilizer subsidy of Rs 1.05 lakh crore in the budget (for current fiscal), an additional amount of Rs 1.10 lakh crore is being provided to further cushion our farmers.”
She said the Prime Minister “has specifically asked all arms of the government to work with sensitivity and give relief to the common man,” she said, adding the steps announced on Saturday were in line with that.
“We are also reducing the customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for plastic products where our import dependence is high. This will result in reduction of cost of final products,” she said.
“Similarly we are calibrating customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for iron & steel to reduce their prices. Import duty on some raw materials of steel will be reduced. Export duty on some steel products will be levied.” “Measures are being taken up to improve the availability of #Cement and through better logistics to reduce the cost of cement,” she added.