Policy interest rates: Centre hails MPC's decision

The Centre on Friday welcomed the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to maintain a status quo on the policy interest rates and said its projections on economic growth and inflation were in consonance with that of the government.

“The decision of the MPC is in consonance with the Government’s assessment of inflation and growth going forward and for achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%., while supporting growth,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The MPC in its fourth bi-monthly statement decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.5%.

The GDP growth projection for 2018-19 was retained at 7.4% as in the August resolution. The projections of inflation for 2018-19 and the first quarter (April-June) of 2019-20 were revised downwards from the August resolution.

“The government welcomes the MPC’s assessment and notes its decision to maintain the policy rate,” the ministry said.