Market Views Diverge On Further Interest Rate Cuts

Analysts hold different views about further interest rate cuts after the benchmark Loan Prime Rate was kept unchanged on Monday, Yicai.com reported. Wang Qing, analyst at Golden Credit Rating believes there is still room for a 0.3 to 0.4 percentage point decline in 5-year LPR, which will lead to a greater reduction in newly issued housing mortgage rates and help reverse expectation of the property market. While Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank said policy rates and LPR will likely hold steady during the year under the consideration of stabilizing the exchange rate and interest spreads, noting that revitalising financial resources and improving the efficiency of capital use will be the key in the next stage.