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BEIJING (AP) -- China's central bank said Saturday it was boosting the amount of money that its banks must hold in reserve for the eighth time this year, reducing the amount available for lending in an effort to cool an investment boom. The bank said in a statement on its Web site that it had raised the rate by half a percentage point to 13 percent to "strengthen liquidity management in the banking system and check the excessive credit growth." The change takes effect Oct. 25, the People's Bank of China said. The order, which had been expected by industry analysts, comes on top of repeated interest rate hikes and investment curbs imposed on real estate, auto manufacturing and other industries in an effort to cool a boom that Chinese leaders worry could ignite inflation or a financial crisis. The rate rise also follows the recent release of government figures on inflation. The inflation rate jumped 6.5 percent in August -- its highest monthly rate in 11 years -- propelled by a double-digit rise in food prices, including pork, the country's staple meat. That follows a rise in consumer prices in July of 5.6 percent over the same month last year. The central bank has already said it expects the inflation rate for the year to exceed the government's 3 percent target. China announced on Friday that the trade surplus, a key source of domestic liquidity, remained high at $23.91 billion in September. The last reserve ratio hike took effect Sept. 25.
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