China's government said the nation's financial system must“better” serve economic growth under a prudent monetary-policyframework as the cost of borrowing on the interbank marketsurged.

Authorities will boost credit support for industries thegovernment has defined as strategic and those that arelabor-intensive, the State Council, or Cabinet, said in Beijingtoday after a meeting led by Premier Li Keqiang. The nation mustmore firmly guard against financial risks, according to a statementon the central government's website.

The comments follow a jump in the seven-day repurchase rate, agauge of interbank funding availability, to the highest level sinceJune 2011. Slowing economic growth combined with a crackdown onillegal capital inflows, efforts to rein in shadow banking, and acampaign to control home prices have contributed to increasedborrowing costs. The central bank has refrained from usingreverse-repurchase agreements to inject funds into the interbankmarket since Feb. 7.