Bankers feel the pinch

The central bank said in a separate survey that bankers and businessmen were feeling the pinch of the tight monetary policy.

The survey of bankers shows that 66.1 percent of respondents believed that the current monetary policy was either "too tight" or "a bit too tight", marking an all-time high. Meanwhile, only 31.2 percent of those surveyed held that the monetary policy was "appropriate", the percentage dropping for five straight quarters.

Bankers believed the current tight policy was working well and therefore fewer expected an interest rate increase in the third quarter, the survey showed.