CHINA today asked commercial banks to freeze more money from lending for the sixth time this year after it reported consumer price growth hit a three-year high in May.

The reserve requirement ratio, or the money put at the hand of the central bank, will rise by 0.5 percentage point starting June 20, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its Website.

Big banks in China will face a reserve requirement ratio of 21.5 percent after the increase. The rate hike is set to freeze 383.7 billion yuan (US$59 billion) away from lending.

China's inflation rate soared 5.5 percent last month from a year before, the highest since July, 2008, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. It was driven by an 11.7 percent jump in food costs amid droughts in central China, the bureau said.