Liquidity tightening measures initiated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would remain in force till stability is achieved in the foreign exchange market, the RBI said on August 1. It did not give any timeframe for rollback of the measures. RBI is as anxious as everyone to roll back the cash tightening steps sooner than later. However, the measures taken will be in place until volatility in the foreign exchange market is controlled, RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said. He added that he does not want to give any time frame for that.
He was delivering the 5th R Venkataraman Endowment Lecture in Delhi. In order to contain Current Account Deficit (CAD) and arrest value of declining rupee, the RBI last month had raised the cost of borrowing for banks and reduced availability of funds to curb speculation in the forex market. RBI did not roll back these measures in its first quarter monetary policy which was unveiled earlier in the week.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said that the measures announced by the RBI were not indicative of firming up of interest rates in the long-term and would be withdrawn once stability was achieved in the forex market. Responding to general criticism that RBI has not been paying enough attention to growth, Subbarao said inflation cannot be tamed without some sacrifice on the growth front.
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