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Interest rate appropriate for now: official

By Xin Zhiming (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-14 09:32

A senior central bank official said yesterday that the current interest
rate level is "appropriate," and the bank will make adjustments only when
the situation requires.

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"I think the interest rate (level) at this time is appropriate," Yi Gang,
assistant governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said
when answering questions from netizens in a live Internet conference.

"It is basically in line with macroeconomic and financial indicators," he
added.

In recent days, some economists have predicted that the central bank may
soon raise the rate as China's consumer price index (CPI) growth picked
up in December, when it rose by 2.8 percent year on year. Its annual
growth was 1.5 percent in 2006.

Yi added that even though price levels are rational at the moment, the
central bank will continue to closely monitor the CPI and other economic
indicators to see if the situation changes to a degree that makes it
necessary to raise the rate.

He said the rising CPI in the past three months was mostly a result of
rising grain prices, but the trend might not continue.

"We do not worry the grain prices will continue to rise and their impact
on the CPI may be only in the short term."

The National Bureau of Statistics is due to release the CPI figure for
January today. The central bank aims to keep the CPI under 3 percent this
year, which is attainable, according to Yi.

Zhao Xijun, an economist with Renmin University of China, also told China
Daily that the grain price rises were a pickup from previous months'
lower levels and will not be sustained.

"If the rise is only temporary, it would be unnecessary for the central
bank to take any action," he said.

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