Need autonomy to make monetary policy decisions: Subbarao

04 Jan 2013 Evaluate

Central banks need to be independent to make monetary policy decisions, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao. The statement comes at a time when the RBI is under immense pressure from the government to cut interest rates in its upcoming policy review. Subbarao only changed his stance in October, when he announced a ‘reasonable likelihood’ of monetary policy easing in the January-March quarter with inflationary pressures expected to ease. The third quarter review of monetary policy 2012-13 is scheduled on January 29, 2013.

Containing inflation and inflationary pressures have been the prime focus of the RBI over the last two years. Since April, the central bank has kept interest rates on hold, despite the government pressure. Inflation as measured by all indices continues to rule high and the Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has stayed above the RBI’s comfort zone of 5-5.5% for the past 34 months now.

By adding further he said, ‘the issue of monetary policy independence has acquired greater potency following the expansion of the mandates of central banks and their more explicit pursuit of real sector targets such as growth and unemployment.’ Citing Japan as an example of how a government can put at risk the independence of a central bank he said, recently-elected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has kept up pressure on the Bank of Japan to step up its monetary stimulus, even after the central bank loosened policy in December for the third time in four months. In recent weeks, we have all seen this issue of central bank independence play out in Japan, with political pressures on the Bank of Japan to adopt a higher inflation target so as to create more room for growth stimulus, he added.

Further, Subbarao also restated that the central banks alone cannot solve all problems, and recommend for better fiscal policies from the government side to encourage trust and confidence in investors. India's growth is set to fall to a decade low of around 5.5-5.7% in 2012-13, and the government is under pressure to contain its fiscal deficit at 5.3% to avert potential downgrades to the country's sovereign ratings.

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