2010-11-05 16:22

China will continue to steadily push forward reforms in its interest rate mechanism, the Shanghai Securities News reported Friday, citing Guo Qingping, assistant governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank.

Guo said reforms in China's financial system have achieved great breakthroughs and distinguished results in recent years and China will stick to deepening the reforms in its financial system while preventing potential risks.

He explained that in order to achieve that goal, China's central bank will further strengthen and improve macro-control of its financial system and steadily promote the market-oriented interest rate reform. It will also promote reforms of larger commercial banks to establish a modern enterprise system, he added.

Guo said the central bank will also speed up the development of its capital market, especially the bond market, and continue to improve the exchange-rate mechanism, complete foreign exchange reserves operation and management, and consolidate yuan's importance in cross-boarder trade and investment.

As for the current stabilizing economic growth and emerging inflation, Zhang Jianhua, director-general of the research bureau of the PBOC, said that adjustments should be made to the previous "moderately loose monetary policy," which was launched for the "special period." Now the central bank should gradually normalize its monetary policy by shifting from "loose" to "prudent."

The "prudent" monetary policy implies that the policy should be targeted and flexible, to ensure stable economic growth, to regulate the expectation of inflation, to regulate the price system and enhance fluidity to improve the credit structure in the economic structure adjustment.

Zhang said by the end of this year consumer prices might exceed what had been expected at the beginning of this year. Since nobody is sure what will happen with inflation next year, the central bank must be cautious, and, most importantly, should not let long-term negative real interest rates erode residents' savings, he said.

He later added that the central bank has some tools to help rationalize the price system, the newspaper said.