The People’s Bank of China has cut one of the country’s most important lending rates in a sign that the government is pushing ahead with policy easing measures to counter a loss of economic momentum.
The central bank cut the one-year loan prime rate, which is widely used as a benchmark for the loans banks make to their customers, from 3.85 per cent to 3.8 per cent. Monday’s rate cut was the first since April 2020, when the country was grappling with the initial outbreak of coronavirus.
China’s economy, which last year bounced back from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic far quicker than other big economies, has recently come under pressure from a property slowdown, energy shortages and lingering weakness in consumer activity.