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Rising crude oil prices, fiscal slippage a concern, says Patel
Context
Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel voiced concern over rising crude oil prices and fiscal slippage, during the meeting of the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review held earlier this month.
Uncertainties persist on fiscal, external fronts: RBI Governor
- The recent upturn in crude oil prices has emerged as a source of concern
- Several uncertainties, especially on the fiscal and external fronts, persist. It is, therefore, important to be vigilant
- The central bank released the minutes of the monetary policy committee meeting, on Wednesday.
- RBI maintained status quo for the second straight meeting, which was voted by five out of six members.
- The key policy rate or the repo rate is currently at 6%.
Fiscal slippage concerns linger on
- While the RBI has maintained a neutral stance on interest rate, one of the members of the committee, said the time had come to be ready to go on the front foot.
- Price pressures are no more confined to vegetables alone, as in previous readings; they are getting diffused across petroleum products, services, and into underlying inflation
- There seems little scope for accommodation or for change of stance at the present juncture