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India’s Monetary Panel Finalizes Steps to Boost Economy

Monetary Policy Committee concluded an unscheduled meeting earlier this week to decide on measures to tackle Covid-19 fallout

(Bloomberg) -- Indian central bank’s monetary policy panel concluded an unscheduled meeting earlier this week to decide on measures it can take to tackle the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak on Asia’s third-largest economy, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting, conducted over video conference, ended on Wednesday and helped finalize a series of measures, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is not public. They did not give details.

India’s Monetary Panel Finalizes Steps to Boost Economy

RBI spokesman Yogesh Dayal did not respond to calls and a mail seeking response.

Governor Shaktikanta Das will address the media at 10 a.m. Friday, the Reserve Bank of India said in a twitter post. His address comes before a scheduled interest rate decision on April 3. The central bank has been on pause since December citing high inflation, after easing policy five times last year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration unveiled a 1.7 trillion spending plan to curb the impact of the virus outbreak that threatens to wipe out growth in the world’s second-most populous nation. India has been locked down since Wednesday for three weeks, hitting earnings of millions of daily wage earners and threatening the existence of thousands of small businesses.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.