China will raise one-year deposit and loan interest rates by 27 basis points to 3.33 percent and 6.84 percent respectively as of July 21, the central bank announced on Friday.

This is the third time that China raised the one-year benchmark interest rates this year as a further move to curb the country's booming economy.

China's GDP grew by 11.5 percent in the first half of 2007, 0.5 percentage point higher from the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose 3.2 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year. In June, CPI jumped by 4.4 percent compared with the same month last year, well above the government's target of 3 percent for 2007.

The move aims to "rationalize the growth of lending and investment, adjust and stabilize expectancy of inflation and maintain price stability", the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website.

China raised the one-year deposit and loan interest rate by 27 basis points in March and by 27 and 18 basis points respectively in May.