Chinese lenders have cut their benchmark lending rate as Beijing grapples with the fallout of a deadly coronavirus epidemic that has battered the country’s economy.
The one-year loan prime rate was reduced on Thursday by 0.1 percentage point to 4.15 per cent. Economists broadly expected the cut after the People’s Bank of China on Monday reduced a medium-term lending rate that acts as a low point for the LPR.
The drop in the LPR – which is based on the average lending rate commercial banks extend to their best customers – will lower funding costs for Chinese companies as they deal with intense disruption from measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.