标题译文：印度央行提高银行准备金率

The Reserve Bank of India again raised the amount of capital banks must keep in the central bank's coffers in an attempt to ward off inflation.

But it remains an open question whether the move will be enough to tamp down rising prices across the economy, especially those of food and commodities, which have been climbing world-wide.

'Inflation today is due to a supply shock, and monetary-policy actions can do very little to bring it down,' said Dharmakirti Joshi, principal economist at Mumbai ratings service Crisil. Mr. Joshi pointed out that there is also a time lag between the Reserve Bank's actions and any impact on India's economy.

The central bank said it would increase the cash-reserve ratio, or the proportion of deposits that banks must leave with it as cash, by half a percentage point to 8% in two stages. This has the effect of reducing banks' ability to create credit. It is the third time the ratio has been raised in less than a year.

On Wednesday, China's central bank also increased, for the third time this year, the amount of funds banks must keep in reserve.

India has been hard hit by inflation, and economists have trimmed their growth estimates. A key inflation measure, wholesale-price inflation, is running at more than 7%, well above the Reserve Bank's tolerance level of close to 5%.

In a news release, the central bank said the cash-reserve ratio was increased in part 'with a view to containing inflation expectations.' It said it is 'essential to take appropriate action on an urgent basis.' The Reserve Bank's move comes ahead of its April 29 annual monetary-policy review. Many economists had expected it to increase the cash-reserve ratio then; some expect it also will raise interest rates.

Despite the central bank's move, Mr. Joshi doesn't plan to change his growth forecast. He expects India's gross domestic product to grow 8.1% in the year ending March 31, 2009. He recently trimmed his forecast from 8.5% on inflation pressures.

In the year that ended March 31, 2008, GDP grew an estimated 8.7%, according to the Indian government.

Jackie Range