国际英语新闻：Experts not surprised by Chinese central bank's reserve ratio hike

HONG KONG, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong-based economic analysts said Monday the hike of the deposit reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by the Chinese central bank fell within market expectations and such a move was part of the monetary authority's ongoing efforts to manage excessive liquidity.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced Sunday it will raise RRR for most financial institutions for the third time this year. Most commercial banks will have to raise their deposit reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point, starting May 10.

It means large financial institutions need to keep 17 percent of their deposits in reserve. While the ratio for the rural credit cooperatives and rural banks would remain unchanged at 13.5 percent, said the PBOC.

This is the third rise in the deposit ratio this year. On Jan. 12 and Feb. 12, the central bank raised the deposit ratio by half a percentage point each time.

Wang Qing, an economist with Morgan Stanley, considered the RRR increase lately as "not a surprise".