PBOC needs time to decide on interest rate increases
By Zhang Fengming |
March 6, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S central bank will adjust policy to meet the 3 percent inflation target for 2010 but needs more time to decide on interest rate increases, its deputy governors said yesterday.
"We have lots of means to control prices, including liquidity controls," Su Ning, a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress meeting in Beijing yesterday.
China is trying to delicately balance boosting its economy without triggering inflation. That's why the PBOC has curbed credit to overcapacity sectors and asked banks to put more money on hold to ensure inflation won't rise rapidly.
China will continue its relatively easy monetary policy and a proactive fiscal policy this year and will increase the flexibility of such policies should new conditions arise, Premier Wen Jiabao said in the government work report to the NPC.
Ben Simpfendorfer, a Royal Bank of Scotland economist, said Wen's remarks on maintaining the policy indicated there still seems to be lingering concerns about the global economy and a recognition that domestic rebalancing will be slow.
"There's always the chance he would use the speech to signal an end to fiscal stimulus," he said.
Economists forecast an interest rate rise as early as June.
Yi Gang, another central bank deputy governor and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said it's difficult to get a clear and accurate reading of the February data due to the seasonal factor of the Chinese New Year holiday. He answered "wait and see" to questions regarding China's interest rates moves, adding "We need more time to monitor data."
China has already raised the reserve requirement ratio twice in a month this year, increased the issuing rates of central bank bills and gave window guidelines to banks for their lending this year to avoid a credit-driven overheating.
China's big five state-owned banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, need to meet a 16.5 percent ratio requirement while smaller joint stock banks are required to put aside 14.5 percent of their capital.
"We have lots of means to control prices, including liquidity controls," Su Ning, a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress meeting in Beijing yesterday.
China is trying to delicately balance boosting its economy without triggering inflation. That's why the PBOC has curbed credit to overcapacity sectors and asked banks to put more money on hold to ensure inflation won't rise rapidly.
China will continue its relatively easy monetary policy and a proactive fiscal policy this year and will increase the flexibility of such policies should new conditions arise, Premier Wen Jiabao said in the government work report to the NPC.
Ben Simpfendorfer, a Royal Bank of Scotland economist, said Wen's remarks on maintaining the policy indicated there still seems to be lingering concerns about the global economy and a recognition that domestic rebalancing will be slow.
"There's always the chance he would use the speech to signal an end to fiscal stimulus," he said.
Economists forecast an interest rate rise as early as June.
Yi Gang, another central bank deputy governor and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said it's difficult to get a clear and accurate reading of the February data due to the seasonal factor of the Chinese New Year holiday. He answered "wait and see" to questions regarding China's interest rates moves, adding "We need more time to monitor data."
China has already raised the reserve requirement ratio twice in a month this year, increased the issuing rates of central bank bills and gave window guidelines to banks for their lending this year to avoid a credit-driven overheating.
China's big five state-owned banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, need to meet a 16.5 percent ratio requirement while smaller joint stock banks are required to put aside 14.5 percent of their capital.
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