China cut its benchmark lending reference rate for mortgages by a wider margin than expected on Friday in the second such cut so far this year as Beijing moved to revive credit demand in the economy.
China lowered the five-year loan prime rate (LPR) by 15 basis points to 4.45%, the biggest reduction since China revamped the mechanism in 2019. The one-year LPR was unchanged at 3.70%.
The LPR is a lending reference rate set monthly by 18 banks and announced by the People’s Bank of China.
Banks use the five-year LPR to price mortgages, while most other loans are based on the one-year rate. Both rates were lowered in January to boost the economy.
Senior officials have pledged measures to fight a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy, hit by Covid-19 outbreaks that prompted stringent measures and mobility restrictions.
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Li’s Call
Many market participants believe China’s move to cut mortgage reference rate was also a response to Premier Li Keqiang’s call to decisively step up policy adjustments and strive to let the economy return to the normal track quickly.
Friday’s mortgage reference rate cut suggests that “China‘s economic growth was facing increasing resistance this year,” said Marco Sun, chief financial market analyst at MUFG Bank.
“Cutting the five-year LPR was an attempt to accelerate recovery of the real estate sector,” Sun said, adding that the authorities refrained from cutting the one-year rate because of recent ample liquidity conditions in the banking system.
Eighteen traders and analysts, or 64% of 28 participants, in a Reuters snap poll predicted a reduction in either rate, including 12 respondents forecasting 5-basis-point cuts for each tenor.
- Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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