(Bloomberg) -- India’s central bank kept borrowing costs at a record-low for the ninth straight meeting, amid the omicron variant of coronavirus posing renewed risks to economic recovery globally.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the benchmark repurchase rate at 4%, as predicted by all 35 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The six-member panel, which has been on pause mode since August last year, voted 5-1 to retain its accommodative policy stance as long as is necessary, reflecting a continued bias to support economic growth given inflation is within target.

The central bank also kept the reverse repo rate -- the level at which it absorbs excess cash from lenders -- unchanged at 3.35%, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said in a live webcast Wednesday.

With the omicron variant spreading fast, several nations are weighing varied degrees of pandemic controls that could throttle demand. While there are no new strict curbs in India, the threat of another wave is likely to keep the central bank from taking steps to normalize liquidity or return policy settings to pre-pandemic levels just yet.

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