BEIJING - More than half of bank executives expect higher interest rates in the fourth quarter of this year, down 11.8 percentage points from the second quarter, the People´s Bank of China said Thursday.

Around 40 percent of bank executives said they believe interest rates will remain unchanged in the final quarter, up 11.5 percentage points from the second quarter, according to a survey conducted by the central bank.

China has raised its interest rates three times this year to drain liquidity from its financial system. The benchmark one-year deposit rates stand at 3.5 percent currently.

Some 35.7 percent of the bank executives surveyed said the country´s economy is overheating, down 2.6 percentage points from the last quarter, while nearly 30 percent said the economy will continue to overheat the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, 54.5 percent said they expect a tighter monetary policy in the final quarter, down 11 percentage points from the second quarter, while 42.1 percent said they believe the country will maintain its current monetary policy.

The survey covered executives at around 3,000 bank headquarters and branches, the central bank said.