China will raise the deposit interest rate for its housing provident¹ fund to allow more proceeds for depositors, the central bank said Wednesday.

中国人民银行上周三表示，我国将上调住房公积金账户存款利率，为缴存者带来更多收益。

The rate will be increased to 1.5 percent starting from Feb. 21, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement. The current rate is 0.35 percent or 1.1 percent, depending on when the deposits were placed.

根据中国人民银行发表的一项声明中表示，自本月21日起，住房公积金存款利率将升至1.5%。目前，根据公积金存款归集时间，公积金账户存款利率为0.35%或1.1%。

The housing provident fund is a saving program that allows employees and employers to set aside a portion of wages to be used as deposits on home purchases.

住房公积金是一种储蓄形式，允许雇员和雇主留出一部分工资作为购房存款。

"The move will help employees gain reasonable returns from their deposits, making the program fairer and more effective," the PBOC said.

央行称：“此举将有助于住房公积金缴存职工获得合理存款收益，进一步提高住房公积金制度公平性和有效性。”

The hike will not affect the country's overall interest rate level, it noted².

此外，央行还指出，此次调整不会影响我国整体利率水平。

Some analysts³ said the move will be an incentive⁴ for home buyers to make better use of the fund, thereby⁵, helping⁶ house sales and reducing inventories⁷, while others noted its role will be limited.

一些分析人士表示，此举将刺激购房者更好的利用公积金，从而促进房屋销售和减少存房，但有些人则认为它的作用将是有限的。

Chinese authorities have issued a slew⁸ of measures to revive the property market after it took a downturn in 2014 due to weak demand and a supply glut⁹.

中国政府已经就2014年楼市因为需求疲软和供应过剩而有所下滑做出了一系列振兴楼市的措施。