RBI governor denies discussing interest rate cut with government

October 7th, 2009 Australian jobless rate posts surprising dropCANBERRA, Australia — Australia's unemployment rate surprisingly dropped to 5.7 percent in September, the government said Thursday, news that caused the Australian dollar to surge to a 14-month high. Economists had forecast a rise to 6 percent, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics said 40,600 new jobs were created last month.

September 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Thursday approved one percent interest rate subvention for housing loans up to Rs.10 lakh, and okayed the allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for the scheme. "The one percent subvention would be for the first 12 EMIs (equated monthly instalments) on loans up to Rs.10 lakh," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

July 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to allow interest rate futures by next month, a senior official said here Saturday. "We are currently working on interest rate futures and the product should be introduced by August-end," M.S.

July 2nd, 2009 Swedish Riksbank cuts rates to record low 0.25 pctSTOCKHOLM — Sweden's central bank on Thursday surprised markets by cutting its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.25 percent, saying the economic downturn appears to be deeper than previously forecast. It added that low official interest rates might not be enough to make financial markets recover and decided to issue loans of 100 billion kronor ($13.1 billion) to banks.

June 4th, 2009 Canada keeps interest rate at record lowTORONTO — Canada's central bank is keeping its trendsetting interest rate unchanged at a historic low of 0.25 percent and says the rise of the Canadian dollar is threatening the country's economic recovery. The Bank of Canada reiterated Thursday its conditional commitment to hold the rate at a record low through June 2010.

May 21st, 2009 HONG KONG - Hong Kong's leading bank, HSBC Holdings, Thursday was offering interest rates so low that customers would need to save $250,000 for a year to earn enough interest to buy a cup of coffee. A record low interest rate of 0.001 percent was being offered by HSBC, which has 4.2 million customers in the city of seven million, because of what it described as rock-bottom interbank rates.

May 8th, 2009 Denmark cuts key interest rate to to 1.65 percentCOPENHAGEN — Denmark's central bank says it has cut its key interest rate by 0.35 percentage point to 1.65 percent. Denmark's Nationalbanken says the decision was a consequence of a rate cut by the European Central Bank earlier in the day.

March 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) feels it would be difficult to lower lending rates any further if the government did not slash interest rates on existing deposits. 'The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not reducing interest on savings bank deposits.

March 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The high government borrowing targets will leave very little room for interest rate cuts, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar said Friday, adding that the troubled time is yet to come for the Indian Economy.

March 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Putting at rest speculations over cut in key rates, Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao Saturday said his meeting with top officials of the government was to discuss India's position on the upcoming Group-20 (G-20) global finance ministers' meeting.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monday said it was closely monitoring the economic scenario and would take 'appropriate policy action as may be necessary'. RBI Governor Duwuri Subbarao Sunday met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and 'assured him that the Reserve Bank is constantly monitoring the situation', a bank statement said.

February 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The interest rate on provident fund investments will be maintained at 8.5 percent for 2008-09, the central board of trustees of employee provident fund (EPF) decided Sunday. The decision was taken at the fourth regular meeting of the newly-constituted board, held under the chairmanship of Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes.

January 26th, 2009 MUMBAI - India's central bank decided to maintain status quo on key rates and lowered the country's growth target for this fiscal to seven percent as it presented the third quarter review of its monetary policy here Tuesday. The benchmark bank rate, the repurchase rate, the reverse repurchase rate, the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) were all kept unchanged by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D.

January 6th, 2009 BHOPAL - Governor Balram Jakhar Wednesday indicated that Madhya Pradesh may lower the interest rates on farm loans, saying the government was committed to fulfil the promises made to the people. Addressing the inaugural session of the 13th state assembly, Jakhar said the election results in the state showed the people have given their approval to 'my government's determination to build a new Madhya Pradesh'.

January 5th, 2009 KOLKATA - The United Bank of India (UBI) has reduced its prime lending rate by 50 basis points to 13 percent effective from Jan 12, it said here Tuesday. 'With this, the existing floating rate in all corporate and retail categories borrowers such as SME (small and medium enterprises), agriculture, housing, auto and vehicle loans, as well as potential borrowers will get the benefit of reduced rate of interest,' a bank statement said.