India is not planning to reconsider its budget numbers for now as the country has sufficient buffers to deal with pressures stemming from the Middle East conflict, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
The government has "some resource kept aside" to meet challenges arising from rising risk insurance premia as ships pass through war zones, Sitharaman said at an event in Mumbai on Sunday.
"I have kept buffers which can take care of it and therefore at this stage, I don't think I'll look at my budget number for readjusting," she said, pointing to government support for oil and fertilizer imports at higher prices.
Risks to India's economic outlook have increased as a truce between the US and Iran remains elusive, raising the prospect of prolonged geopolitical tensions and higher energy prices. India is a large importer of crude oil, making it susceptible to higher inflation and a wider trade deficit when energy prices climb.
India's inflation accelerated last month, rising above the central bank's target for the first time in almost a year and a half as food prices hardened. Sitharaman said erratic monsoons due to the El Nino effect were adding to existing inflation risks, with the country receiving excessive rain in some parts and not enough in others.
"Inflation therefore cannot be just imported," she said, adding "it's also our own want of rain and the monsoon being less-than-normal" that could also add to price pressures.
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The finance minister said several indicators including goods and services tax collections pointed to resilient economic growth. The central bank expects the economy to grow 6.6% in the fiscal year through March despite headwinds from the war and a deficient monsoon.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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