China’s benchmark lending rates were kept unchanged as expected following a hold of key policy rates last week, according to a statement released Monday by the country’s central bank.
The one-year loan prime rate was steady at 3.65%, while the five-year LPR was unchanged at 4.3%, said the People’s Bank of China.
The unchanged rates were expected after the central bank kept key policy rates–the interest rates of the medium-term lending facility that banks use to price LPR–steady last week.
Further, PBOC Gov. Yi Gang said in a briefing earlier this month that he believed the current interest rate level is “appropriate,” and that there was room to lower banks’ reserve requirement ratio to unleash long-term funds for banks.
China’s central bank said Friday that it would lower the RRR by 0.25 percentage point, in a move to further shore up the country’s economic recovery.