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India cannot sacrifice economy to comply with US sanctions - FM

I ndia wants to comply with global sanctions, including US sanctions on Venezuela and Russia, but also needs to maintain its own strength and strategic interests, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in an interview on Tuesday. The United States in January imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Venezuela’s oil industry.

The move has scared away some global customers, but with few alternative suppliers of heavy oil, Indian refiner Reliance Industries Ltd has been buying Venezuelan crude from Russian major Rosneft.

The company is set to resume direct oil loadings in the South American nation after a four-month pause. Sitharaman said the Indian government has expressed its view to the United States. “In specific issues which are critical for India’s strategic interests, we have explained to the United States that India is a strategic partner for the United States of America and you want a strategic partner to be strong and not weakened,” she said.

“We value the strong partnership with the USA, but we should equally be allowed to be a strong economy.” “Global headwinds ... are getting stronger by the day,” Sitharaman said. Asked about further fiscal stimulus, she said: “I have not closed the door” on that. New Delhi has been trying to boost domestic growth through an infrastructure package and a new loan programme organised with the banking sector that has doled out loans worth over 8.7 billion pounds, she said.