Pankaj Chaudhary from MoS Finance said Monday that the Government would not publish Reserve Bank of India a letter regarding missing inflation target.
The RBI has submitted a report to Centre as required under Sectiom 45ZN RBI Act.
Pankaj Chaudhary wrote back, “Yes sir. RBI has submitted a report to central government, as mandated pursuant to Section 45ZN and Regulation 7 (RBI Monetary Policy Committee and Monetary Policy process Regulations 2016,” Pankaj Chaudhary, the minister of state in charge of finance. He said that the RBI Act, 1934, as well as its regulations, does not permit the public release of the report.
The report was required because the average inflation was exceeding the upper tolerance level for inflation, which is 6% in three consecutive quarters from January to September 2022.
Average inflation for the January-March quarter was 6.3%. For the April-June period, it was 7.3%. The September quarter saw an increase to 7%.
Since 2016, the monetary policy framework was in effect, it was the first time that the RBI had to provide an explanation to the government.
Retail inflation, based on Consumer Price Index(CPI), has not fallen below 6% since January 2022. It was 7.41% at September. The MPC, which includes Governor Shaktikanta das and six other members, is responsible for retail inflation. It also decides the bi-monthly Monetary Policy.
The RBI has raised the short-term lending interest rate (repo), from 2.25 to 6.25% in May. It is now at a three-year high.