IN BRIEF (Page 13)

Economy makes a good start

The Chinese economy has made a good start to 2010, the central bank said on Friday while a policy adviser said the country needs to get prepared for an interest rate hike.

The People's Bank of China said in a report that the Chinese economy will "continue in a good direction" in the future. But Li Daokui, a newly appointed member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said the central bank should be prepared to raise interest rates if inflation-adjusted bank deposit rates languished for long in negative territory.