India Leaves Rates Steady as Expected

2024-04-05 04:36 By Chusnul Chotimah 1 min. read

The Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark policy repo at 6.5% for the seventh consecutive meeting in April 2024, as widely expected amid persistent price pressures.

The latest move came after annual inflation stood at 5.09% in February 2024, almost unchanged from January, after hitting a four-month high of 5.69% in December 2023, staying within the RBI's 2-6% target range in the medium term.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das reaffirmed its commitment to bring down inflation to 4%.

He said that uncertainties would continue to weigh on the inflation outlook.

Additionally, the central bank maintained the economic growth forecast for the fiscal year 2025 at 7%, with projections of 7.1% for Q1; 6.9% for Q2; and Q3 and Q4 at 7% each, while inflation was at 4.5%, with a projection of 4.9% for Q1; 3.8% for Q2; 4.6% for Q3, and 4.5% for Q4.

The RBI also left the marginal standing facility (MSF) and bank rates unchanged at 6.75% while keeping the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate at 6.25%.



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