It is up to government to deal with black money issue: RBI

Bhopal, Feb 10 (PTI) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) todaysaid it had limited powers to deal with the issue of blackmoney as confidentiality clause came in the way of handlingthe problem of money kept in bank lockers.

Current rules do not allow banks to find out what hadbeen kept in their lockers, RBI Governor D Subbarao said at apress conference here.

"All this is governed by a confidentiality clause aboutwhich nothing can be done at the moment," he said, answering aquery on unaccounted money in the lockers of Indian banks.

Answering another question, Subbarao, who was on a two-day visit to the city, said although the RBI had no role toplay in the Union Budget, it stood for fiscal consolidationof the banks.

Subbarao said maintaining a balance between financialgrowth and controlling inflation was a tough task, but theapex bank was competent enough to handle this scenario.

He said inflation shot up due to a number of factors andpressures, including the present situation in West Asia andrise in prices of food, commodity and oil.

The RBI Governor said the IMF, in a report, had predictedthat oil prices would not go beyond USD 90 a barrel, but thisyear that has already crossed USD 100.

Subbarao said RBI was concerned at the decline in ForeignDirect Investment (FDI), particularly in the last few months.

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