RBI-govt spat latest flashpoint as 2019 elections near, easy money era ends

Italy, India have the worst bad loan ratios among the top 10 economies

India is the latest country to see age-old tensions between governments and central banks flare up as the era of easy money draws to a close.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government sent the central bank letters that cited a never-used power to overrule the Reserve Bank of India in a bid to push through measures that would unleash spending ahead of an election, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. That triggered a feisty speech from a central bank deputy in defense of independence, which brought the spat into the open.

As the rift looked set to deepen Wednesday, the government appeared to ease