NEW DELHI: State-run fuel retailers are likely to bear the cross for saving consumers from the impact of benchmark oil prices rising to their highest in 10 months. But at $95 a barrel, crude is bound to delay possible cuts in interest rates and test the government’s management of inflation in the run-up to elections in politically important states and national polls next year.
Rising fear of supply deficit has led oil prices to shed the inertia seen in the first half after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended voluntary production cuts until end of the year and US oil output projected to hit lowest since May. Mounting optimism over demand recovery in China, the world’s largest oil consumer, only added to the rally.
