Central bank official dismisses speculation on interest rate hikes

A central bank official said Tuesday that a recent increase of interest rates for open market operations was influenced by market forces and should not be viewed in the same way as benchmark interest rate increases.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) raised the interest rates for reverse repurchase agreements (repos) by 10 basis points Friday, triggering speculation that the move signaled an intention to raise benchmark interest rates.

The reverse repo rate rises were "mainly the results of a market-oriented bidding process" and "had major differences with increases of benchmark deposit and loan interest rates," said Xu Zhong, head of the PBOC's research bureau, in an interview with Xinhua.

Reverse repos refer to a process by which the central bank purchases securities from banks through bidding with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

While the reverse repo rates were decided by market supply and demand, benchmark interest rate hikes reflect "a stronger government intention for proactive macro-control," Xu noted.

China has set the tune of its monetary policy in 2017 as prudent and neutral, keeping an appropriate liquidity level but also avoiding excessive liquidity injections.

Xu added that both the scale and pricing of open market operations could change in line with monetary policy goals.

The PBOC on Tuesday suspended open market operations for a third-straight trading day, saying that liquidity in the banking system remained at a relatively high level.

Last week, the PBOC also raised the interest rates on its standing lending facility, a tool for the central bank to provide short-term funding to banks. Endi