Raghuram Rajan Calls on Arun Jaitley; Discusses Inflation, Economy

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today called on new Finance MinisterArun Jaitley and discussed the prevailing economic situation as well as the issuesrelated to the rise in prices.

The meeting, which comes just days before the next bi-monthlymonetary policy review on June 3, lasted for about 50 minutes.

"It (curbing inflation) is absolutely a task that the governmentand the RBI are engaged with," Mr Rajan told reporters after the meeting.

Soon after taking charge of the Finance Ministry today, Mr Jaitleypledged to contain price rise.

Amid RBI maintaining high interest rate regime to tame inflation,Mr Jaitley stressed on the need of a "balancing act" to deal with thedeclining growth and high inflation.

"Absolutely, RBI has always maintained the balance betweengrowth and inflation," Mr Rajan said, adding that the central bank wouldcontinue to do so.

On the Current Account Deficit (CAD), which sharply narrowedto 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2013-14, Mr Rajan said "yesterday's number wasvery healthy".

When asked about easing of curbs on gold imports, the Governorsaid: "You will see policies as they are rolled out".