China Holds Loan Prime Rates As Expected

(RTTNews) - China maintained its loan prime rates unchanged for the fourteenth consecutive month, as widely expected, on Monday.

The People's Bank of China left its one-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.0 percent. Similarly, the five-year LPR, the benchmark for mortgage rates, was retained at 3.50 percent.

The bank had reduced its both LPRs by quarter points in October 2024 and 10 basis points each in May 2025.

The central bank sets the LPR monthly based on the submissions of 20 designated banks, though Beijing has influence over the fixing. The LPR replaced the traditional benchmark lending rate in August 2019.

The decision came after China's economy logged 4.3 percent expansion in the second quarter, which was the weakest since 2022 due to declining investment and subdued domestic consumption.

The government aims to achieve 4.5 percent to 5.0 percent growth this year. The International Monetary Fund expects China's GDP to grow 4.6 percent this year before slowing to 4.1 percent in 2027.