China’s Surprise RRR Cut Puts Focus on Bank Lending Rates

(Bloomberg) — Chinese banks kept their benchmark lending rates unchanged on Monday despite the central bank’s surprise easing action last week, with economists betting there could be scope for lower rates in coming months.

Lenders held the one-year loan prime rate at 3.65% and left the five-year rate, a reference for mortgages, flat at 4.3%, according to a statement released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) in line. Almost all economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast the rates to be maintained.