China's central bank will start to issue benchmark interest rate daily from Jan. 1 next year to give more play to the market force in rate setting, said an official with the bank Sunday.

The benchmark interest rate will be based on the quotations for various inter-bank lending and borrowing rates at different maturities offered daily by 16 commercial banks with good credit, said Wu Xiaoling, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China.

The move aims to bring the force of prices into play in adjusting the country's financial markets, said Wu.

The central bank has been controlling deposit and loan rates as a result of weak regulation in current financial markets, said wu.

The control has ensured stable operation of commercial banks but cut off the connection between the monetary market and the interest rates, said Wu.

As China will fulfill its commitment to the World Trade Organization to fully open up its banking sector by the end of the year, domestic financial institutions have to improve their competitive edges to face the challenges from foreign rivals, Wu noted.

The central bank has been experimenting with the inter-bank offered rate quotation in Shanghai since Oct. 8.

Wu said that the central bank will promote the marketization of interest rates actively and prudently, by gradually easing limits on benchmark deposit and loan rates and making the interest rate mechanism more flexible.