By IANS,
New Delhi : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Friday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should ease policy rates taking cue from the fiscal consolidation path shown by the government.
“On the fiscal consolidation path, the government has walked the talk. RBI, of course, will take into account the overall broad economic situation and what happens between now and March 19 and take a call,” Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting with the RBI board here.
The finance minister said the government has kept its promise on fiscal consolidation and now it is upto the central bank to decide on rate cuts.
The RBI is scheduled to announce mid-quarter review of the monetary policy March 19. The central bank had cut the key rates by 0.25 percent in its previous policy review Jan 29.
“We have delivered on fiscal consolidation path chalked out by the Dr Kelkar Committee. We have remained under 5.3 percent as promised, and we have shown, next year we will be at 4.8 percent,” Chidambaram said.