The recent easing of the West Asia crisis has sharply reduced the biggest near-term upside risk to the RBI's inflation outlook, strengthening the case for maintaining a growth-supportive monetary policy stance, Ram Singh, director of the Delhi School of Economics, said in an interview with ET. Singh, who also serves on the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, said he hopes the impact of El Nino remains contained so that it can be treated as a temporary supply-side shock. Edited excerpts: Has the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz removed the biggest near-term upside risk to the RBI's inflation projection of 5.1%