PBOC Maintains Prudent Monetary Policy: Deputy Governor

The PBOC will continue to implement a prudent monetary policy, reform the loan prime rate system, and promote further reductions in actual loan rates, Deputy Governor Fan Yifei said at a press conference on Thursday, according to a transcript on China.com.cn. As the next step, the PBOC will merge the benchmark lending interest rates with market interest rates, Fan was cited as saying. The central bank must make good use of policies encouraging local banks to lend to SMEs, defer the businesses' loan repayments, and lowering their financing cost, Fan said. PBOC will also actively promote the wider use of its digital yuan both wholesaling to commercial banks for larger sums and to consumers for retail transactions, he said.