A staff member counts Chinese Yuan at a bank’s personal finance business service area in Haian, East China’s Jiangsu province, Sept 15, 2023.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images
China’s central bank cut its benchmark five-year loan prime rate for the first time since June, extending Beijing’s efforts to revive the country’s anemic property market.
The Chinese central bank kept its one-year loan prime rate — the peg for most household and corporate loans in China — unchanged at 3.45%. The benchmark five-year loan rate — the peg for most mortgages — was cut by 25 basis points to 3.95%, according to a statement Tuesday from the People’s Bank of China.
The cut in the five-year rate in the monthly fix for February was larger than expectations for a reduction of between five to 15 basis points in a Reuters poll of economists.
China’s loan prime rates usually move in tandem to its medium-term policy rate, which the PBOC kept unchanged for February on Sunday.
China cut the reserve ratio requirements for its banks by 50 basis points from Feb. 5, providing 1 trillion yuan ($139.8 billion) in long-term capital, while urging banks to support loans for high-quality real estate developers.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.