Following are the highlights of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) fifth bi-monthly monetary policy statement of 2019-20:
* Repo rate or short-term lending rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent;
* GDP growth forecast lowered for current fiscal to 5 per cent from 6.1 pc earlier;
* Various high frequency indicators suggest demand conditions remained weak;
* RBI continues with accommodative monetary stance to revive growth;
* Recognises that there is monetary policy space for future action;
* Retains retail inflation projection for second half of year raised to 5.1-4.7 per cent;
* RBI notes monetary transmission to improve going forward;
* Foreign exchange reserves stood at $451.7 billion on December 3, up $38.8 billion over March-end 2019;
* All members of rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted for rate pause;
* Next monetary policy review meet scheduled during February 4-6, 2020.