BANK of China (stock code: 601988), one of the country's four large state-owned commercial lenders, predicts the central bank will raise interest rates in the latter half of the year amid growing concerns over an overheated economy.
A BOC report forecasts 11.3 percent economic growth in the first half, compared with the previous forecast of 11 percent by the central bank's research bureau. June's inflation rate, as measured by the consumer price index, was likely around four percent as the economy was showing "a more obvious tendency to overheat," said the report.