Beijing - Saba:
The People's Bank of China (China's central bank) decided on Thursday to keep the benchmark market-linked interest rates unchanged from the previous month.
The National Interbank Finance Center announced that the prime interest rate for one-year loans would remain at 3.1%, and the interest rate for five-year loans, which many banks use as a basis for determining mortgage interest rates, would remain at 3.6%.
Primary interest rates reflect the cost of financing for households and businesses, and lowering these rates reduces the financial burden on borrowers and provides stronger support for economic activity.
Over the past year, the People's Bank of China has lowered the prime interest rate and the reserve requirement ratio for commercial banks to help the economy recover.
The latest data showed that the average interest rate on corporate loans fell to about 3.3% in February, a decrease of 40 basis points from the same month last year, while the average interest rate on personal mortgage loans fell by about 70 basis points to 3.1%.
According to the government work report for this year, China has decided to adopt a moderately flexible economic policy.
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