'This Is The Time To Make Medium-Term Institutional Changes
Q: Has the busy season monetary policy for 1996-97 been the most challenging of the policies you have formulated so far?
A: I think every time you formulate the monetary policy, it seems to be the most challenging that time. I would not really characterise this policy as the most challenging in that sense of the term. We face a new set of circumstances every time, and, therefore, you have to formulate your monetary and credit policy against that particular backdrop. I would, however, say that the media and other interests were extraordinary this time compared to any other time in the past. In that sense, the monetary and credit policy this season was unique.
Q: We got the impression that your policy had to respond to various challenges. The economy was not doing well, there was a drop in credit offtake and so on.
A: That would not be correct to say. For example, when we were formulating the credit policy earlier on at the time of the slack season, we had just emerged out of certain problems on the foreign exchange front. After all, the formulation of the monetary and credit policy in 1995-96 was to a large extent influenced by developments in the foreign exchange market, which were uncommon