Economy "very comfortable", says RBI governor

Monday, 16 June 2003, 19:30 IST
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Drought and the global slowdown notwithstanding, India's economic situation is "very comfortable now", said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Bimal Jalan here Monday.

BANGALORE: "There is a tremendous amount of confidence even on the external sector. The policy being pursued by many of the member-countries (of the Asian Clearing Union - ACU) is similar to those which we had initiated some years ago," Jalan told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day annual ACU meet which began Monday. However, Jalan declined to comment on the appreciation of the rupee as well as the impact of the monsoon on the economy. "Let us wait and watch," is all he said about the monsoon. RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan also said that it was too early to say anything on the monsoon. In a brief chat with reporters, Mohan said inflation had come down to 5.45 percent, which was consistent with what the RBI had predicted in its monetary policy statement. "This we had expected. We had said at the time of the monetary policy statement that inflation would start going down in the second quarter," he said. Replying to a question on capital control, Mohan said the central bank had been relaxing it in different sectors of the market. "Basically, we will continue with the policy of essentially wanting to make foreign exchange available for all legitimate commercial purposes," he added.
Source: IANS