Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Global stagflation risk: On the need to cut fuel taxes

Global stagflation risk: On the need to cut fuel taxes

India will have to cut fuel taxes or risk both faster inflation (मुद्रास्फीति) and slower growth

As Russia’s invasion (आक्रमण, चढ़ाई) of Ukraine is set to enter the third week, the economic costs (क़ीमत, हानि, कष्ट) of the conflict (संघर्ष, टक्कर, युद्ध) in Eastern Europe threatens to stall (obstruct, impede, hinder, hamper, interrupt, thwart, inhibit, hamstring, sabotage) the shaky (अस्थिर, लड़खड़ाना, अनिश्चित) global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic (वैश्विक महामारी). While the expansive (प्रशस्त, व्यापक) financial sanctions (प्रतिबंध, उजाज़तें, अनुज्ञायाँ) imposed (थोपना, लागू करना) on Russia by the U.S. and its western allies have sent the value of the rouble (the basic/standard unit of money in Russia; Russian monetary unit) plunging (fall sharply/steeply, plummet, drop rapidly, go down, tumble, sink, slump) by more than 60% against the dollar since the start of the conflict, the war-led disruptions to supply and the sanctions have sent the prices of several key commodities soaring (तेजी से बढ़ना, बहुत वृद्धि होना): from wheat and corn, to metals including nickel and aluminium, and, most crucially, crude oil (the raw natural resource that is extracted from the earth and refined into products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products) and gas. Brent crude (a classification of crude oil produced from the oil platform in the North Sea of Northwest Europe. It is one of the three best known benchmark crude oils (the other two are ‘West Texas Intermediate’ and ‘Dubai’) against which other crude oils are priced. (Crude oil is the raw natural resource that is extracted from the earth and refined into products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products)) futures surged (तरंग, लहर, अचानक बढ़ना) to a high not seen since July 2008, and are currently about 29% higher than before the invasion began on February 24. The price of natural gas (प्राकृतिक गैस) has also risen sharply in Europe amid (के बीच, घिरा हुआ) concerns that supplies from Russia could be hit (affect badly) either on account of (because of, owing to, due to) European nations agreeing to a U.S. proposal to shut the tap (valve, stopcock) on Russian energy exports or by retaliatory (revenging, vengeful, avenging)  sanctions by Moscow. Russia supplies Europe about 40% of its gas requirements, roughly a quarter of its oil and almost half its coal needs, and an embargo (ban/bar, restriction, prohibition, stoppage (the official one)) on energy supplies from Russia could send already high electricity costs in the countries comprising the eurozone (the European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro (€) as their common currency) skyrocketing (rise, increase (rapidly), escalate, mount; mushroom, snowball). That in turn would hit consumers, as well as businesses and factories, forcing them to either raise prices or possibly even temporarily shut operations.

Inflation in the euro area had accelerated (increase, rise, go up, advance, surge) to 5.8% in February, mainly on account of a more than 31% surge (sudden increase, rise, growth, upswing, upsurge) in energy prices, and with the uptrend (an upward tendency) in oil prices steepening (become steeper/expensive/costly; become overpriced) sharply this week, the outlook (prospects, expectations, hopes, likely improvement, lookout, future) for price gains in Europe and worldwide is not encouraging (promising, hopeful, favourable, reassuring, uplifting, gratifying). The IMF, which had in January cut its forecast (prediction, indication, projection, prognosis, speculation, calculation (of future events or trends)) for global growth in 2022 to 4.4% citing the Omicron variant (On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the (new coronavirus) variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). The first known confirmed Omicron infection was from a specimen collected on November 9. In recent weeks, infections in South Africa have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection), rising energy prices and supply disruptions, on March 5 warned that the war in Ukraine posed (constitute, present, create, cause (a challenge or problem or danger or risk)) grave risks to the global recovery. With analysts projecting (predict, estimate, calculate) that crude prices will cross $180 and some traders punting (bet, stake, risk, chance) on prices surpassing (be greater than, exceed) $200 a barrel, India too can hardly (barely, scarcely, only with effort, only just, almost not) be sanguine (optimistic, hopeful, confident, positive, cheerful (particularly in a difficult situation)), its diplomatic (tactful, sensitive, subtle, delicate; consular, foreign-policy) fence-sitting (a state of neutrality; a neutral position) notwithstanding (nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, in spite of that, despite that). In a 2019 paper on ‘The Impact of Crude Price Shock on India’s Current Account Deficit (the amount by which money relating to trade, investment etc going out of a country is more than the amount coming in), Inflation and Fiscal Deficit (the difference between total expenditure and total income of the government)’, two senior RBI researchers posited (put forward, submit, predicate, propose) that a $10 increase in the price of oil from a $65 level would raise headline inflation (it is a measure of the total inflation within an economy, including commodities such as food and energy prices) by about 49 basis points (bps) (a unit of measure used in finance to describe the percentage change in the value or rate of a financial instrument. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01% (1/100th of a percent). Used for measuring change in interest rate/yield) or widen the Government’s fiscal deficit if it decided to absorb (assimilate, digest, ingest, take in, grasp) the entire oil price shock (disturbance causing volatility/uncertainty in an economy). India’s policymakers face a tough choice: bear (endure, tolerate, put up with, stand, suffer, experience, undergo) the cost of lower revenue by cutting fuel taxes or risk both faster inflation and slower growth.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.inflation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - मुद्रास्फीति
English Meaning - simply meaning “cost of living”; increase of price level of goods & services and vice versa decrease of currency value.

2.invasion (noun)

Hindi Meaning - आक्रमण, चढ़ाई
English Meaning - occupation, conquering, capture, seizure, annexation, annexing, takeover.

3.cost (noun)

Hindi Meaning - क़ीमत, हानि, कष्ट
English Meaning - loss, suffering, drawback, disadvantage.

4.conflict (noun)

Hindi Meaning - संघर्ष, टक्कर, युद्ध
English Meaning - war, armed conflict, battle, fighting.
 

5.absorb (verb)

Hindi Meaning - अवशोषण करना, आत्मसात करना,
English Meaning - assimilate, digest, ingest, take in, grasp.

6.shaky (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - अस्थिर, लड़खड़ाना, अनिश्चित
English Meaning - faltering, unsteady, uncertain, unreliable, untrustworthy, questionable, dubious, doubtful, tenuous, unsubstantial, weak, undependable, unsupported.

7.pandemic (noun)

Hindi Meaning - वैश्विक महामारी
English Meaning - the worldwide spread of a new disease; The illness spreads around the world and typically affects a large number of people across a wide area.

8.expansive (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - प्रशस्त, व्यापक
English Meaning - wide-ranging, extensive, sweeping, broad, comprehensive, thorough.

9.sanctions (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्रतिबंध, उजाज़तें, अनुज्ञायाँ
English Meaning - action taken, or an order given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc.

10.impose (verb)

Hindi Meaning - थोपना, लागू करना
English Meaning - apply, enforce, exact, inflict.

11.soar (verb)

Hindi Meaning - तेजी से बढ़ना, बहुत वृद्धि होना
English Meaning - increase rapidly, shoot up, rise rapidly, escalate, skyrocket.

12.surge (verb)

Hindi Meaning - तरंग, लहर, अचानक बढ़ना
English Meaning - increase suddenly, rise, grow, escalate.

13.natural gas (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्राकृतिक गैस
English Meaning - a fossil energy source that formed deep beneath the earth’s surface. Natural gas contains many different compounds. The largest component of natural gas is methane, a compound with one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH4). Natural gas also contains smaller amounts of natural gas liquids (NGLs, which are also hydrocarbon gas liquids), and nonhydrocarbon gases, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. We use natural gas as a fuel and to make materials and chemicals.

14.fossil fuel (noun)

Hindi Meaning - जीवाश्म ईंधन
English Meaning - non renewable resources (or fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are formed from the buried/deposited organic materials).

15.amid (preposition)

Hindi Meaning - के बीच, घिरा हुआ
English Meaning - in the middle of, surrounded by; during.

16.stall (verb)

English Meaning - obstruct, impede, hinder, hamper, interrupt, thwart, inhibit, hamstring, sabotage.

17.stagflation (noun)

English Meaning - a period of rising inflation, slowing economic growth & rising unemployment. (inflation is the sustained/continuous rise in the overall price level of goods and services in the economy).

18.ally (noun)

English Meaning - a country/state with an alliance with another one in which they promise to support each other militarily and to defend each other.

19.rouble (noun)

English Meaning - the basic/standard unit of money in Russia; Russian monetary unit.

20.plunge (verb)

English Meaning - fall sharply/steeply, plummet, drop rapidly, go down, tumble, sink, slump.

21.crude oil (noun)

English Meaning - the raw natural resource that is extracted from the earth and refined into products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products.

22.Brent crude (noun)

English Meaning - a classification of crude oil produced from the oil platform in the North Sea of Northwest Europe. It is one of the three best known benchmark crude oils (the other two are ‘West Texas Intermediate’ and ‘Dubai’) against which other crude oils are priced. (Crude oil is the raw natural resource that is extracted from the earth and refined into products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products).

23.concern (noun)

English Meaning - (a cause of) anxiety, worry, disquiet, apprehension.

24.hit (verb)

English Meaning - affect badly.

25.on account of (phrase)

English Meaning - because of, owing to, due to.

26.tap (noun)

English Meaning - valve, stopcock.

27.retaliatory (adjective)

English Meaning - revenging, vengeful, avenging.

28.embargo (noun)

English Meaning - ban/bar, restriction, prohibition, stoppage (the official one).

29.eurozone (noun)

English Meaning - the European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro (€) as their common currency.

30.skyrocket (verb)

English Meaning - rise, increase (rapidly), escalate, mount; mushroom, snowball.

31.in turn (phrase)

English Meaning - successively, sequentially.

32.accelerate (verb)

English Meaning - increase, rise, go up, advance, surge.

33.surge (noun)

English Meaning - sudden increase, rise, growth, upswing, upsurge.

34.uptrend (noun)

English Meaning - an upward tendency.

35.steepen (verb)

English Meaning - become steeper/expensive/costly; become overpriced.

36.outlook (noun)

English Meaning - prospects, expectations, hopes, likely improvement, lookout, future.

37.price gain (noun)

English Meaning - a general increase in the price of something.

38.encouraging (adjective)

English Meaning - promising, hopeful, favourable, reassuring, uplifting, gratifying.

39.International Monetary Fund (IMF) (noun)

English Meaning - an international organization of 189 countries, headquartered in Washington, D.C., working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

40.forecast (noun)

English Meaning - prediction, indication, projection, prognosis, speculation, calculation (of future events or trends).

41.Omicron variant (noun)

English Meaning - On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the (new coronavirus) variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). The first known confirmed Omicron infection was from a specimen collected on November 9. In recent weeks, infections in South Africa have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection.

42.variant (noun)

English Meaning - different or form or version or mutant of something (virus).

43.pose (verb)

English Meaning - constitute, present, create, cause (a challenge or problem or danger or risk).

44.grave (adjective)

English Meaning - serious, severe, terrible, awful, dreadful, alarming, drastic, dangerous, threatening.

45.project (verb)

English Meaning - predict, estimate, calculate.

46.punt (verb)

English Meaning - bet, stake, risk, chance.

47.surpass (verb)

English Meaning - be greater than, exceed.

48.hardly (adverb)

English Meaning - barely, scarcely, only with effort, only just, almost not.

49.sanguine (adjective)

English Meaning - optimistic, hopeful, confident, positive, cheerful (particularly in a difficult situation).

50.diplomatic (adjective)

English Meaning - tactful, sensitive, subtle, delicate; consular, foreign-policy.

51.fence-sitting (noun)

English Meaning - a state of neutrality; a neutral position.

52.notwithstanding (adverb)

English Meaning - nevertheless, nonetheless, even so, in spite of that, despite that.

53.paper (noun)

English Meaning - article, composition, thesis, work, treatise, study, report, analysis.

54.shock (noun)

English Meaning - disturbance causing volatility/uncertainty in an economy.

55.current account deficit (CAD) (noun)

English Meaning - the amount by which money relating to trade, investment etc going out of a country is more than the amount coming in.

56.current account surplus (CAS) (noun)

English Meaning - the amount by which money relating to trade, investment etc going out of a country is less than the amount coming in.

57.fiscal deficit (noun)

English Meaning - the difference between total expenditure and total income of the government.

58.posit (verb)

English Meaning - put forward, submit, predicate, propose.

59.headline inflation (noun)

English Meaning - it is a measure of the total inflation within an economy, including commodities such as food and energy prices.

60.core inflation (noun)

English Meaning - it is a measure of the total inflation within an economy, excluding commodities such as food and energy prices (which change frequently).

61.basis point (BPS) (noun)

English Meaning - a unit of measure used in finance to describe the percentage change in the value or rate of a financial instrument. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01% (1/100th of a percent). Used for measuring change in interest rate/yield.

62.bear (verb)

English Meaning - endure, tolerate, put up with, stand, suffer, experience, undergo.

63.bear the cost/burden of (phrase)

English Meaning - suffer the disadvantages/consequences of.