Mumbai, July 11: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut the repo rate by 250 basis points since February 2019 to alleviate liquidity stress and provide financial stability in the economy, said Governor Shaktikanta Das on Saturday. Till the onset of COVID-19 in February this year, the RBI has cut the repo rate by 135 basis points.

Also Read | Paras Chhabra Birthday Special: 10 Hot Pics of Bigg Boss 13's Casanova That'll Drive You Crazy!.

"From February 2019 onwards, on a cumulative basis, we had cut the repo rate by 250 basis points till the onset of COVID-19. That was done mainly to tackle the slowdown in growth which was visible at that time and we had elaborately touched upon its in our MPC Resolutions," Das said while delivering the keynote address at the 7th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave.

"COVID-19 is the worst health and economic crisis in the last 100 years with unprecedented negative consequences for output, jobs and well being. It dented the existing world order, global value chains, labour and capital movements across the globe," he added.

Also Read | Coronavirus Can Spread Through Food? Shrimp Samples Imported Into China From Equadorian Companies Test COVID-19 Positive, Country Bans Temporary Imports.

"COVID-19 pandemic perhaps represents so far the biggest test of robustness and resilience of our economic and financial system," Das said.

This may result in higher non-performing assets (NPAs) and capital erosion of banks, the RBI Governor said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)