China and ASEAN Seal Enhanced Free Trade Pact

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will continue to implement a moderately loose monetary policy in 2026 and will utilize tools such as reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cuts and interest rate reductions to ensure sufficient liquidity, according to central bank governor Pan Gongsheng, as reported by Xinhuanet. Monetary policy will focus on promoting stable economic growth and a reasonable recovery in prices, using both incremental and existing measures to create a favorable monetary and financial environment for high-quality development and the stable operation of financial markets, Pan told Xinhua in an interview. “There is still room for further RRR and interest rate cuts this year,” he said, adding that the PBOC will work to ensure the effective implementation and supervision of interest rate policies to keep overall financing costs at a low level. The central bank will also seek to enhance the flexibility of its monetary policy tools.

China’s central bank announced on Thursday cuts to sector-specific interest rates to provide an early boost to the economy, and signalled that it has room this year for further reductions in banks’ cash reserve requirements and broader rate cuts, as Reuters reported. Zou Lan, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said it would lower interest rates on its structural monetary policy tools by 25 bps on January 19, a move that tends to have a limited impact on growth compared with cuts to benchmark policy rates. The one-year relending rate will be reduced from 1.5% to 1.25%, with rates for other maturities adjusted accordingly. Structural monetary policy tools are central bank instruments designed to target specific sectors or areas of the economy, such as small firms, tech innovation, and green development. Outstanding loans made via structural tools totalled CNY 5.9 trillion ($846.84 billion) at the end of March 2025, central bank data showed.

China's central bank said on Tuesday it will cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and interest rates in 2026 to keep liquidity ample and continue to implement appropriately loose monetary policy, according to a statement on its website. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) added that it would intensify counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, defuse financial risks in key areas, and make efforts to expand domestic demand. It will also make effective use of refinancing tools for services consumption and elderly care to drive increased credit allocation in the services consumption sector. Among other priorities, the central bank highlighted the need to contain financial risks in key sectors, with plans in place to establish a mechanism to provide liquidity for non-banking institutions in specific scenarios. The central bank also said it will keep the yuan exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level and guard against the risk of an exchange rate overshoot.