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China lowers interest rate as part of market-oriented reform amid slowing economy
China lowered its lending reference rate through a new market-oriented pricing mechanism on Tuesday, providing a modest easing of monetary conditions to help support the world’s second largest economy. The new one-year loan prime rate (LPR), which is the average of the rates that 18 designated banks charge their biggest clients, was set at 4.25 per cent, according to the National Interbank Funding Centre, a unit of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). The new rate was lower than the previous LPR of 4.31 per cent and also lower than the old benchmark lending rate of 4.35 per cent. The LPR is the rate at which banks ... (full story)