The People's Bank of China has not changed the benchmark loan interest rate

As the Chinese economy shows more signs of recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, the People's Bank of China, as expected, left its benchmark lending rate (LPR) unchanged in February. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) kept its benchmark prime interest rate (LPR) for this year at 3.65 percent, while the five-year LPR was maintained at 4.30 percent. "We expect the PBOC to remain accommodative in the first half of this year, but only through liquidity-related actions, not rate cuts," Barclays analysts wrote in an investor note. The investor note emphasized that China, unlike the US and the EU, is expected to continue to be at odds with the US and EU in its monetary policy, driven by still-benign inflation and recovering but still-weak activity.