6th Aug 2020 11:08:PM Editorials
Eastern Sentinel Arunachal News

At a time when the debate as to which among the two is more challenging– overcoming Covid-19 or bringing back the trembling national economy back in shape was getting louder, there was much interest regarding the decisions emerging from the three-day meeting of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee. 

Echoing the on-ground feelings which can only be called as deeply distressing, the RBI Governor has acknowledged that the pains have been severe which have been aggravated by the pandemic and prolonged lockdowns. While speculation centered around the prospective steps to be taken for revival of the economy through the monetary route, there was also an equal amount of interest regarding containing the inflation. As a whole, the proposed monetary policy has taken a cautious approach without going for any out-of-the-box solutions and the main focus has been containing the steadily rising inflation which has made living worse for the millions.

Giving a good amount of priority to check consumer inflation, the RBI has left the repo rate which is the rate at which it lends funds to commercial banks unchanged at 4 %  and also the reverse repo rate at 3.35 % . This is in contrast to the March and May measures when the rates were successively reduced by a total of 115 basis points, making it clear that containing prices of commodities will be the  first-hand measure and prospects for growth coming later. And that the latter is not going to come soon is evident from the RBI Governor’s observation which also mirrors the realities. GDP growth, as per the central bank’s assessment, will in all probability remain in the negative zone not only for the first half of the current financial year, but also till the end of March 2021. Helplessness can be observed from the fact that the only hope of returning to economic normalcy which is through commencement of normal economic activities in the country had faced several ‘bouncers’ due to rising Covid-19 infections which consequently had caused re-imposition of lockdowns in various parts of the country. Supply chain disruptions due to the sustaining pandemic have impacted negatively both the prices of food and non-food items, hitting hard the majority of the populace.

As a whole the resilience capability of the Indian economy has been put to test once more. But this time it is unprecedentedly extraordinary due to the unstoppable pandemic. RBI has assured a "dynamic, pro-active and balanced" approach on their part to pull the economy out of the woods.

A couple of months will be needed to measure the efficacy of the monetary measures. But, it’s going to be a herculean task for sure. 


Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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