BEIJING - Nearly a third of Chinese bankers surveyed by the central bank believe the country will adopt a looser monetary policy in the third quarter as the economy loses steam, the People's Bank of China said Tuesday.

In the second quarter, 32.4 percent of bankers expected a looser monetary policy for the next quarter, 25.7 percentage points higher than three months earlier, the PBOC said, citing results of a survey conducted among about 3,000 bankers.

Meanwhile, 38.9 percent of bankers considered the national economy "relatively cool" in the second quarter, up 9.4 percentage points from the first quarter, according to the PBOC survey.

The index measuring bankers' confidence in the macro economy slumped 6.6 percentage points from the first quarter to 58.4 percent, the survey showed.

To buoy China's slowing economy, the PBOC has cut the reserve requirement ratio three times since late last year. It announced its first interest rate cut in more than three years earlier this month, as easing inflation gave the government more room to adjust its monetary policy to support growth.

The country's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 3 percent year on year in May, the slowest in 17 months, according to official data.