CHINA MAY RAISE INTEREST RATES: ECONOMISTS.

(From Asia Pulse)

Byline: tightening monetary policies, the central bank said its

BEIJING, May 17 Asia Pulse - The prevailing view among Chinese economists is that China's central bank will have to raise interest rates to prevent a runaway economy and soothe growing inflationary pressures if the ongoing excess investment cannot be stopped.

"It depends on the economic trend whether there will be an interest rate hike," Qiu Zhaoxiang, director of the financial research institute of the University of International Business and Economics, told Xinhua.

He said that if the People's Bank of China failed to curb over-investment in such sectors as steel, property, cement and aluminum by other means, it would resort to rate increases just as developed countries have to meet similar situations.

Zhao Xijun, a financial expert from the People's University of China, agrees, saying that the central …