Interest rate rise gains support

Adjustments, broader oversight can reduce risks, bank researchers say

The central bank's top researchers have agreed recently that higher interest rates will help to squeeze asset bubbles and restrain debt expansion, as a tool to be used with broader oversight of financial activities.

"There is room for an increase in interest rates in the short term as industrial product prices and enterprises' profitability have improved since last year," Ji Min, deputy head of the central bank's research bureau, told China Daily over the weekend.