China's central bank kept key policy rates steady on Monday, suggesting that benchmark loan rates could remain on hold later this month.
The People's Bank of China kept the one-year medium-term lending facility unchanged at 2.5% while injecting 100 billion yuan ($13.82 billion) funds via the instrument, according to a statement on its website.
The central bank also injected CNY2 billion of liquidity through a seven-day reverse repurchase agreement at an interest rate of 1.8%, also unchanged from the last operation.
Monday's hold of both MLF and reverse repo rates may suggest that the benchmark loan prime rate will likely stay steady this month. China's commercial banks are required to price their LPRs with MLF rates in China.
The PBOC cut the five-year LPR in February and will release this month's LPR next Monday.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-14-24 2206ET
