‘Confident of good trade deal with US’

RBI Guv Malhotra said the BTA will relieve pressure on the ₹

- RUCHIKA CHITRAVANSHI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Thursday said that he is confident that there will be a “good trade deal” with the United States (US), which will relieve the pressure on the current account and in turn the rupee.

Delivering the VKRV Rao Memorial Lecture at the Delhi School of Economics, Malhotra said the recent depreciation in rupee is because of expectations that the trade deficit may go up as a result of additional penal tariffs by the US. “Exports have come down as you are aware in October. But we are confident that there will be a good trade deal, hopefully, going forward. And that should relieve whatever pressure there is on our current account. We have very good buffers of foreign exchange of $690 billion. So that’s not a matter of concern,” he added.