央行年内第四次加息 遏制物价上涨

The central bank raised interest rates yesterday for the fourth time this year to control money supply and rising prices.

The central bank raised interest rates yesterday for the fourth time this year to control money supply and rising prices.

Effective today, the interest rate on bank deposits is raised by 27 basis points, and the lending rate by 18 basis points, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website.

After the hikes, the benchmark one-year deposit rate is 3.6 percent while one-year lending rate is 7.02 percent.

The demand deposit interest rate remains unchanged at 0.81 percent.

The central bank said the move is aimed to "control money supply and credit, and stabilize inflation expectations".

The annual growth in the broad measure of money supply, M2, grew by 18.5 percent in July, 1.42 percentage points higher than in June and the fastest this year.

The annual growth in the consumer price index (CPI) surged to 5.6 percent in July, the highest in a decade.

"The interest rate hikes, therefore, are in line with expectations," said Zhao Xijun, finance professor at Renmin University of China.

"The authorities may fear the high inflation, driven mainly by rising food prices, may lead to more general price spikes and spill over to other sectors," he told China Daily.

The series of revisions in the lending rates are aimed at reducing bank lending, said Hu Shaowei, senior economist with the State Information Center.

"By raising the lending rates by a smaller margin, policymakers aim to prevent banks from providing too much credit, which has pushed fixed-asset investment growth," he told China Daily.

In the first seven months, new banks’ loans amounted to 2.77 trillion yuan ($364.5 billion), already exceeding the authorities' target of 2.5 trillion yuan for 2006.

The annual growth rate in urban fixed-asset investment, meanwhile, rose to 26.6 percent in the first seven months, 2.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate last year.

昨日，央行年内第四次上调利率，以控制货币供给量和物价上涨。

据央行在其网站上公布，自今日起，银行存款利率上调0.27个百分点，贷款利率上调0.18个百分点。

一年期存款基准利率和一年期贷款基准利率分别上调至3.6%和7.02%。

活期存款利率保持不变，仍为0.81%。

据央行介绍，这一举措主要是为了“调控货币供给和信贷投放及稳定通胀预期”。

七月份我国广义货币（M2）供应量年比增长18.5%，比六月份高1.42个百分点，是截止目前年内增长最快的一个月。

七月份的消费者物价指数年比上涨5.6%，创十年来新高。

中国人民大学金融学教授赵锡军说：“所以，加息是意料之中的事。”

他在接受《中国日报》采访时说：“政府可能担心主要由食品价格上涨引发的通胀会导致总体物价上涨，以及对其它领域造成影响。”

国家信息中心高级经济师胡绍伟说，年内贷款利率的连续数次上调主要是为了减少银行贷款量。

他在接受《中国日报》采访时说：“政府想通过微提贷款利率，控制银行过度放贷。大量银行贷款推动了固定资产投资的增长。”

今年前七个月，银行新增贷款量达到2.77万亿元，已超过政府2006年制定的2.5万亿元的上限。

同时，城市固定资产投资量前七个月年比增长26.6%，比去年高出2.1个百分点。