RBI central board meets to review current economic situation, global geopolitical crises

The surge in fuel prices is feared to raise the rate of retail inflation, which breached the six percent-target set by the RBI in February.

The central board of directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met on March 25 in Bengaluru to review the current economic situation and the impact of the geopolitical crises.

The meeting, held under the chairmanship of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, comes at a time when the surging crude oil prices has sent jitters across several oil-importing economies across the world.

"The Board in its meeting reviewed the various areas of operation of the Bank and the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges including the overall impact of current global geopolitical crises," the RBI said in a statement.

The benchmark Brent crude breached $120 per barrel-mark on March 24, jumping by another 4.6 percent. The price has been on the rise since Russia launched an invasion on Ukraine on February 24. The subsequent sanctions against Moscow has eliminated nearly 3 million barrels per day of Russian oil supplies from the international market.

Domestic fuel prices have been raised thrice this week by the oil marketing companies. The retail cost of petrol and diesel has cumulatively increased by Rs 2.40 per litre in the past five days.

The surge in fuel prices is feared to raise the rate of retail inflation, which breached the six percent-target set by the RBI in February.

The central bank, apart from reviewing the economic situation in the meeting held today, also discussed activities during the current accounting year 2021-22. "The Board also approved the budget for the accounting year 2022-23," the statement said.

The meeting was attended by RBI Deputy Governors and central board officials, along with Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth and Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra.