China's central bank chief has forecast the government could soon loosen its grip on the bank deposit rates that are kept artificially low to bolster lenders' profits.

中国央行行长表示，政府可能会很快会放开对银行存款利率的管制。目前中国的银行存款利率被人为压低以支撑银行盈利。

The PBoC plans to liberalise deposit rates within one to two years, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at a briefing in Beijing, as part of the National People's Congress annual gathering.

中国央行行长周小川在“两会”记者会上表示，央行计划放开存款利率，很可能在一两年内实现。

China's central government holds majority stakes in the country's largest banks.

中国中央政府持有中国几大银行的大部分股份。

These institutions maintain their profit margins because of the spread between artificially suppressed deposit rates paid to savers and the interest they charge borrowers to maintain their profit margins.

这些银行之所以能保持较高的利润率，是因为享有较大的存贷差：一方面，它们支付给储户的存款利率被人为压低，另一方面，它们能够对贷款人收取更高的贷款利率。

The low deposit rates also enable the banks to extend cheap credit to other state-owned enterprises, which keeps the government-owned sector buoyant during economic downturns.

极低的存款利率也使得银行能够向其他国企发放廉价贷款，从而让国有部门在经济不景气的时候保持活力。

But while market-driven savings rates are possibly bad news for shareholders in SOEs - such as the central government - earning more on cash in the bank could deter the Chinese public from buying the high-yielding but opaque wealth management products that fund non-bank lending to the country's riskiest borrowers, such as property developers.

尽管存款利率市场化或许对国企的股东（比如中央政府）不利，但提高银行存款收益或许能阻止中国民众去购买高收益、低透明度的理财产品，而这种产品在为中国风险最高的那部分借款人（比如房地产开发商）提供融资。

Shares in China's largest banks shares are not reacting. ICBC, the country's biggest lender, has risen 0.2 per cent in Hong Kong trading. That suggests investors do not believe the Beijing administration really will rush to change this fundamental component of the country's financial system. The prospect of liberalising interest rates has been discussed for years.

中国几大银行的股价并未做出反应。中国最大银行工商银行(ICBC)的股票在香港股市上涨了0.2%。这显示出投资者并不相信，北京当局真的会迅速改革这个中国金融体系的基本组成部分。利率市场化已经讨论了许多年，都没有付诸实施。

马云表示要是能推动利率市场化，余额宝就是死也值了。