The People’s Bank of China has again cut the country’s key interest rates and lowered the reserve requirement ratio in a bid to spur economic growth.
The central bank announced on Tuesday the one-year lending rate would drop by 25 basis points to 4.6 percent, with effect from Wednesday; while the one-year deposit rate would fall by the same margin to 1.75 percent.
It is the fifth interest rate cut in China since last November.
Beijing also reduced the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points. The ratio refers to the share of deposits each lender is required to hold as reserves. It is the third time the central bank has lowered the ratio since February.
The central bank said in a statement the government needed to “use the monetary tools more flexibly” as the economic environment remained “very challenging”, also noting the global stock market continued to be volatile.
The rate cuts came after a private survey published last week showed manufacturing sector activity in China plunged to a 6.5-year low. Additionally, Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index slumped by an aggregate of 22 percent over four trading days since late last week.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday that the Chinese economic fundamentals remained sound and there was “no basis for continued depreciation” of the yuan against the U.S. dollar. Beijing lowered the yuan exchange rate against the U.S. dollar earlier this month by almost 2 percent in one day, the biggest daily fall in two decades.
