BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday announced a series of measures to support growth and facilitate structural improvements, including cuts to interest rates and the down payment ratio for commercial property mortgages.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) will cut the interest rates on all structural monetary policy tools by 0.25 percentage points, Zou Lan, deputy governor of the central bank, said at a press conference.
According to a PBOC statement, the rate cuts for relending and rediscount facilities will take effect on Jan. 19.
The one-year relending rate will be reduced from 1.5 percent to 1.25 percent, with rates for other maturities adjusted accordingly.
Zou also said that the central bank will work with the National Financial Regulatory Administration to lower the minimum down payment ratio for commercial property mortgages to 30 percent.
The central bank will integrate the use of its relending and rediscount quotas to support agriculture and small businesses, with an additional 500 billion yuan (about 71.36 billion U.S. dollars) allocated to the relending facility, Zou said.
Within the total quota, a dedicated relending facility of 1 trillion yuan will be established specifically for private enterprises, prioritizing support for small and medium-sized private firms, he said.
The PBOC also announced measures to support technological innovation, facilitate carbon reduction, and expand financial support for services consumption and elderly care.
The central bank will encourage financial institutions to enhance their services for hedging against exchange-rate risks by enriching hedging products and providing enterprises with cost-effective, flexible and efficient exchange-rate risk management tools, Zou said.
Policy documents for these measures will be released in the coming days, Zou noted.
He said that there is still room to cut interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio this year.
China will continue to implement a moderately loose monetary policy in 2026, according to the Central Economic Work Conference in December.
Commenting on the outlook of the RMB exchange rate this year, Zou said that China's exchange rate policy is clear and consistent, and adheres to the principle of allowing the market to play a decisive role in the RMB exchange rate formation while keeping the RMB exchange rate basically stable at an adaptive and balanced level.
"As a responsible major country, China does not need -- nor does it intend -- to gain an edge in international trade through currency devaluation," he said, adding that the RMB exchange rate is expected to see two-way fluctuations while maintaining flexibility.
Li Bin, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said at the press conference that supply and demand in China's foreign exchange market has remained broadly balanced over the past year, with the total transaction volume hitting a record high of 42.6 trillion U.S. dollars.
Looking ahead, China's foreign exchange market is expected to continue operating stably, with cross-border capital flows remaining smooth and orderly, and its resilience continuing to strengthen, Li said. ■
