Central Bank-ese

RBI Governor Subbarao said that that one of the first things he learnt at his new job was to master Central Bank-ese, or the language central bank chiefs speak the world over. The kind of statements that can be interpreted to mean anything, or nothing, depending upon your point of view. He quoted former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan as having said he’d proposed to his wife on three occasions before she realised he was proposing. Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan, who had the last word at the book launch function, had a minor correction to make. It appears he was at a dinner where Greenspan’s wife narrated this story, and Greenspan interrupted her to say he’d actually proposed seven times! Or at least that was what Mohan made of what Greenspan said.