by Ziyi Tang, Clare Jim and Xie Yu
BEIJING (Reuters) – China stepped up its economic support measures on Friday as several of the country’s major banks cut interest rates while sources said Beijing is considering further action including easing restrictions on the economy. purchase of real estate.
The People’s Bank of China (PBC) also announced on Friday that it would reduce the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 200 basis points from September 15, to bring it to 4%. This is the first time since the beginning of the year that the central bank has acted on the RRR ratio.
These measures have been welcomed by investors and analysts who believe that this should prevent further deterioration of the real estate sector in great difficulty.
China is facing an economic slowdown and the focus is particularly on real estate, which is facing a debt crisis and represents around 25% of the Chinese economy.
At the heart of the crisis, the promoter Country Garden has postponed until Friday 2:00 p.m. GMT the deadline for a vote of its creditors who must express themselves on the postponement of the payment of an “onshore” private bond of 3.9 billion yuan (495 million euros).
The vote is crucial for Country Garden as they try to avoid default after posting a record first half loss.
Faced with mounting pressure, the authorities have already unveiled a series of measures to support the economy and revive the real estate sector, and according to four sources familiar with the matter, Beijing should act again, in particular by easing restrictions on the purchase of goods. real estate.
The regulatory authorities will put in place in the coming weeks the measures they have been working on for several months under the supervision of the Council of State, said two of the sources.
“This is the first time since 2021 that China has announced a series of national measures to support real estate. They will help restore market confidence and prevent further deterioration in the sector,” said Betty Wang, economist. at ANZ.
On Friday, several major banks like Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ChinaConstruction Bank Corp and Agricultural Bank ofChina lowered their deposit rates between five and 25 basis points, according to their respective websites.
Several mid-sized banks also announced that they would cut rates on a series of deposits by between 10 and 25 basis points.
Thursday, the BPC and the financial regulatory authority announced that from September 25, first-time home buyers via a loan could ask their banks for reduced interest rates on their existing loans.
(Report Ziyi Tang, Ryan Woo and Wang Jing, with the contribution of Davide Barbuscia in New York, Blandine Hénault for the , edited by Kate Entringer)
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