-The Hindu The WTO Panel reports are a pointer to the U.S. — the once undisputed trade hegemon — turning away from free trade and moving toward growing protectionism In a significant development in international trade law, four separate World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel reports have ruled that the tariffs of 25% and 10% on steel and aluminium, respectively, that the United States (U.S.) had imposed during the presidency of Donald Trump...

-The Telegraph Can stability be achieved by sacrificing growth? Has the macroeconomic configuration turned binary? With inflation occupying centre stage, the choice seems fast splitting between stability and growth. Can the former be secured without compromising the latter? That’s the worry with policies swinging to address price, exchange rate and external stability. This is not to say that growth has receded to secondary position. But as interest rates harden and fiscal policy...

Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...

-Livemint.com Correcting import-duty anomalies will attract foreign firms to set up assembly bases here and lift our global competitiveness A steady decline in import Tariff Rates in manufacturing industries had been an important feature of India’s economic reforms during the 1990s and 2000s. The average import Tariff Rate was reduced from about 84% in 1990 to the lowest-ever level of 8.6% in 2010. Consequently, imports of goods plus services as a percentage...

-Scroll.in The figures breached the tolerance band of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee Retail inflation rose to 7.35% in December from 5.54% the month before, government data showed on Monday. The rate of inflation exceeded the tolerance band of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, Bloomberg reported. At the current level, retail inflation is at its highest since July 2014. Inflation was pushed up by a rise in...