Bank reserve requirements raised

BEIJING - Banks' required reserves were raised by 50 basis points on Friday and further interest rate rises to tackle inflation were not ruled out by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China.

The move by the central bank was the eighth hike since the beginning of 2010 to control inflation in the world's second-largest economy.

The measure will be effective from Feb 24, after which the reserve requirement ratio for big commercial banks will be 19.5 percent. The move is estimated to mop up about 350 billion yuan ($53.2 billion) from the market.