China's central bank has raised interest rates for the first time in nine years.

The Economist informes: AS EVERY disciple of Milton Friedman knows, the effects of monetary policy are felt only after a “long and variable” lag. Central bankers cannot wait for inflationary threats to materialise; they must pre-empt them, by raising interest rates at the first hint of price pressure. China’s central bankers follow different rules. Consumer-price inflation has been rising for a year or more. By July, it all but matched the rate of interest: borrowing was, in effect, free. But the central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has been slow to react. Finally, on Thursday October 28th, the People's Bank raised interest rates for the first time since July 1995, lifting its benchmark lending rate from 5.31% to 5.58%. The lags in Chinese central banking, it seems, are invariably long. Click here to continue reading.

FYI: Don't confuse the People's Bank of China (中国人民银行, pinyin: Zhōngguó Rénmín Yínháng ) with the Bank of China or the Central Bank of China ;-D. Btw, did you know that Austria's central bank has a brand-new website? A-one!

via Pathologically Polymathic