The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the key interest rate unchanged at 6 per cent in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review for the year 2017-18 today.

The central bank has raised inflation forecast to 4.3-4.7 per cent in third and fourth quarters of current fiscal and kept the economic growth forecast unchanged at 6.7 per cent.

The RBI said Farm loan waiver, partial rollback of duty on fuel, cut in GST rates on several items may result in fiscal slippage. 

Finance Ministry has said, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its fifth bimonthly policy statement has recognized that inflation remains firmly under control. 

Taking note of the MPC statement, the Ministry said that it has retained its inflation projection for the second half of the financial year 2018 while assessing that the risks to this projection are evenly balanced. 

The Ministry said, due to this reason, it has maintained a neutral policy stance. 

The MPC has also retained its annual GVA forecast for financial year 2018 of 6.7 per cent recognizing several significant developments and emphasizing the Government’s reform efforts such as GST, Bank Recapitalization Package and improving Ease of Doing Business Ranking. #casansaar (Source - NewsonAir)