The Hindu : Business : RBI's stance on inflation `unchanged as of now'

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Saturday, Jul 15, 2006

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RBI's stance on inflation `unchanged as of now'

Special Correspondent

Oil prices surge to a new high of $78 a barrel

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India stance on inflation, projected at 5-5.5 per cent for the current fiscal, remains unchanged as of now.

"There is no change in our stance on inflation from what we had stated in our annual policy," the RBI Deputy Governor, Rakesh Mohan, told newspersons here on Friday after meeting Finance Ministry officials ahead of the central bank's quarterly policy review on July 25.

Dr. Mohan, however, made it clear that the RBI's exact views on inflation, taking the latest surge in oil prices into account, would be revealed in its policy review for the quarter. "You will know our view about inflation in our quarterly policy review,'' he said.

The RBI's stance on oil and the external sector, Dr Mohan said, also remained the same as stated in its annual credit policy unveiled on April 18. "We are confident to contain inflation...We are worried about global oil prices," the RBI Governor, Y.V. Reddy, had then said after announcing the annual policy.

Inflation rate up

For the week ended July 1, the annual rate of inflation rose to 4.96 per cent from 4.84 per cent in the previous week, owing to higher prices of certain manufactured items such as metals, chemicals and textiles along with some non-food products even though the prices of food items declined.

As for oil, prices surged to new highs with the Brent North Sea crude touching a record $78.03 a barrel on Friday.

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