India's Finance Minister cuts subsidy to oil firms

The Union Finance Minister (FM) has reduced the subsidy burden borne by the government of India to Rp705.79 billion (US$16.6 billion) for 2007-2008. This means that the Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. are likely to bear the subsidy difference of nearly Rp64 billion (US$1.5 billion). Their crude oil import bill will likely be higher than the 2007-2008 bill (US$77 billion) for 2008-2009, due to depreciation of the rupee as well as higher crude oil prices. (May 14, 2008)