SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE: As anticipated, China's central bank extended maturing medium-term policy loans on Monday while maintaining the same interest rate. However, markets anticipate that monetary easing may be necessary in the coming months to support the economic recovery.
According to the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the rate on some financial institutions' one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans worth 125 billion yuan ($18.08 billion) will remain at 2.75 percent from the previous operation.
Monday's activity was intended to completely address monetary organizations' issues and to "keep up with sensibly adequate financial framework liquidity," the PBOC said in a web-based proclamation.
26 participants, or 86.7%, in a Reuters survey of 30 market watchers conducted last week predicted that the MLF rate would not change, while four respondents anticipated a marginal rate cut.
The public authority lifted severe pandemic estimates in December that have begun to revive credit interest on the planet's second-biggest economy, however there are developing worries that force is easing back after the underlying skip.
Beijing will likely need to intensify its easing efforts to keep the economic recovery on track, given evidence of subdued domestic demand and negative investor sentiment.
A few experts said an unavoidable rate cut would include further strain moneylenders' productivity after the country's biggest banks kept contracting edges in the main quarter.
Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ, stated, "It may not be possible for banks to cut because their net interest margins are close to the warning line of 180 basis points."
He stated, "That could trigger financial risks if loans rates are further lowered."
The operation resulted in a net fresh injection of 25 billion yuan into the banking system, with 100 billion yuan worth of MLF loans expiring this month.
An online statement stated that the central bank also injected 2 billion yuan through seven-day reverse repos while maintaining borrowing costs at 2.00%.
In a note released last week, economists at Barclays stated, "We think disappointing credit data and rising deflation risks increase the probability of more monetary policy easing in the form of an interest rate cut."
"...if authorities are to break the disinflation/deflation spiral, a holistic approach and concerted policy efforts are required to stabilize the housing market and boost consumer and business confidence."
They added that "the bottleneck is weak demand and the bank system is flush with liquidity" and that the PBOC appeared to favor adjusting banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and other structural tools.