Government, RBI working together to address economic challenges: Raghuram Rajan

The government and the Reserve Bank of India are working together to address the country's current economic woes, including the continuing fall in the rupee value, a general economic slowdown and rising prices, Raghuram Rajan, the newly-appointed governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said.

''These are challenging times for the Indian economy, though no one can have any doubt about the country's promise,'' Rajan said, adding, ''The government and the Reserve Bank are working together to address these challenges.''

He said there was no magic wand that would make the current economic problems disappear all of a sudden, but he said, the country would surely deal with all these problems.

Raghuram Rajan, chief economic adviser in the ministry of finance, said it was a great honour to be appointed as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

He was addressing reporters after the government issued the order of his appointment as the new governor of RBI today.

Rajan said the Reserve Bank was a great institution with a tradition of integrity, independence and professionalism, an d he looked forward to working with the many dedicated employees of the RBI to continue these traditions, even though he would miss his colleagues at the finance ministry.

A former IMF chief economist Rajan is heading India's central bank at a time when the government is battling economic slowdown, declining rupee, rising prices and all-time high current account deficit (CAD).