New Delhi : Complimenting RBI Governor Urjit Patel on the monetary policy committee (MPC) maintaining the apex bank’s key lending rate in the nation’s broader good, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian on Wednesday, however, said that seldom before have economic conditions warranted a substantial monetary policy easing as they do at this juncture.
At its second bi-monthly monetary policy review of the fiscal held in Mumbai on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained status quo on its repo, or short-term rate for lending to commercial banks, at 6.25 per cent for the fourth successive policy review, dashing the government’s hopes of a reduction. In doing so, the policy statement said the MPC was guided by the risks to inflation.
“We respect the decision taken by the RBI, which is in the broader good of the country,” Subramanian told reporters after the central bank’s announcement adding, however, that “I wanted to give you my own technical assessment of the inflation and growth outlook”.
He said he was offering a plausible alternative macroeconomic assessment to the one given by the RBI on Wednesday.
