BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - China's central bank will cut banks' reserve requirement ratio and interest rates at the "appropriate time" and strength
BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) – China’s central bank will
cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio and interest rates at the
“appropriate time” and strengthen the resilience of its forex
market, it said on Friday during a quarterly meeting of its
monetary policy committee.
The committee of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) suggested
stepping up monetary policy adjustment and control, and
improving monetary policy to be more forward-looking, targeted
and effective, according to a statement of the bank’s quarterly
meeting of its monetary policy committee, which was held on
Tuesday.
The remarks, similar to PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng’s comments
earlier this month, came after modest economic growth in the
first two months of the year, thanks to government policy
support. But U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes may
bring more headaches to policymakers in coming months.
“China’s economy is generally stable, making progress while
maintaining stability… However, it still faces difficulties
and challenges including insufficient domestic demand and many
hidden risks,” said the PBOC statement.
The bank will keep liquidity ample and push forward to lower
social financing costs, the statement added.
“Behaviours that disrupt forex market order will be
resolutely dealt with, and the bank will prevent currency
overshooting risks,” the statement said, adding the PBOC will
keep yuan reasonably stable.
In addition, the bank will study creating new structural
monetary policy tools and support the investment and financing
of technology innovation, consumption boosting and foreign trade
stabilisation.
China held benchmark lending rates steady for the fifth straight
month in March on Thursday, matching market expectations.
Analysts say pressures to stabilise the yuan has eased,
while short-term economic stabilisation suggests a loosening
monetary policy is not very urgent at present, but expectations
for it still remains.
(Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao
Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Chizu Nomiyama )
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