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Premier Wen Jiabao may struggle to keep inflation at his 2010 target of about 3 percent, after banks flooded the Chinese financial system with money to drive the nation’s economic rebound.

Inflation may peak at 4.4 percent during the year, according to the median forecast of 14 economists surveyed after Wen gave the goal in a speech to lawmakers in Beijing yesterday.

“Three percent is a fairly aggressive target and it suggests that the government will need interest-rate increases and price controls to achieve it,” said Ma Jun, a Hong Kong- based chief China economist at Deutsche Bank AG.

China will need to raise benchmark interest rates as early as this month to curb inflation expectations and prevent the interest on bank deposits being outstripped by price gains, according to Standard Chartered Bank. Wen pledged to counter property speculation and “keep price levels stable” as he affirmed a moderately loose monetary policy in his annual report to lawmakers yesterday.

The full-year inflation rate may be 3.4 percent, the survey of economists showed. Price pressures include higher commodity costs, resource-price reforms, and the spillover from last year’s rapid credit growth, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a report to the National People’s Congress yesterday.