The governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, said interest rate ranges for loans should be expanded to improve private business' access to lending.
"Steadily promoting the marketisation (sic) of interest rates is highly significant...an important measure to distribute financial resources," Zhou said.
"Some SMEs can't get loans, therefore in China we should emphasise...that through medium and small enterprises for full employment we should gradually enlarge the floating (interest) rate for loans."
Zhou made the comments during a keynote address at the opening of the two-day Euromoney conference on China's financial markets. He didn't specify how much the central bank will liberalise rates or provide a timetable for the reform.
