'No reason for RBI to tighten money supply'

There is no reason for the Reserve Bank to tighten money supply in its policy review to be announced later this month, Chief Economic Advisor of the government Kaushik Basu on Monday said.

There is no reason for the Reserve Bank to tighten money supply in its policy review to be announced later this month, Chief Economic Advisor of the government Kaushik Basu on Monday said.

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"Right now, there are no expectations of monetary tightening nor do I believe there is a reason for it. Because , as we are seeing, it is a very sector-specific inflation that is taking place," he told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI function.

He said this when asked about the steps RBI should be taking to tame food inflation.

The RBI is slated to come out with its third quarter review of the monetary policy on January 29 amid intense speculations that the apex bank may signal an interest rate hike to tighten money supply to contain rising inflation.

Arguing against tightening of monetary policy, Basu said, there was no need to take steps that could effect sectors across the board and could have implications for the growth and employment.

According to latest figures, food inflation stood at 19.83 per cent during the third week of December.