Finance Minister expresses hope for rate cuts by RBI

19 Mar 2012 Evaluate

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed his optimism of rate cuts and policy reversal by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the wake of moderation in inflation. He said that '... the fact that core inflation has moderated in the past three months and that in coming months we are looking at reversal in the policy rates should help in improving sentiments.' He stated that economic expansion could revive to as much as 7.85 percent in the fiscal year starting on April 1 and that inflation would ease.

However, budget deficit has been projected to exceed 5 percent for a second year and that could hamper the scope of RBI for a series of interest-rate cuts to bolster a slowing economy. The deficit for the year through March 31 is projected at 5.9 percent, wider than the 4.6 percent target set in 2011. RBI has signaled before the budget that better control of the nation’s fiscal deficit would boost its scope to lower borrowing costs, which are at the highest level since 2008, at 8.5 percent.

The bank raised the repurchase rate by a record 3.75 percentage points from 2010 to October last year to fight price increases. The monthly inflation figure stood at 6.95 percent. Earlier this month, RBI reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) -- the portion of deposits banks require to keep with the central bank -- from 5.5 per cent to 4.75 per cent, pumping Rs 48,000 crore in the economy.

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