China Keeps Lending Rates Unchanged As Expected

China’s central bank maintained its lending rates unchanged, as widely expected, on Thursday.

The People’s Bank of China kept its one-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.45 percent.

Similarly, the five-year LPR, the benchmark for mortgage rates, was retained at 3.95 percent. The five-year LPR was last lowered by 5 basis points in February to support the property market.

The PBoC fixes the LPR monthly based on the submission of 18 designated banks. However, Beijing has influence over the fixing. The LPR replaced the traditional benchmark lending rate in August 2019.

Today’s decision matched expectations as the medium-term lending facility, which acts as a guide to loan prime rates, was retained last week. The PBoC conducted CNY 182 billion of one-year MLF at 2.5 percent. The central bank also injected CNY 4 billion via seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.8 percent.

Earlier, Capital Economics’ economist Leah Fahy said as the renminbi has been under considerable pressure recently and rate cuts would drag on the currency further, policymakers will be keen to avoid this.

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