China increased support for the economy with surprise interest rate cuts, seeking to prop up growth after a lack of short-term stimulus from a major Communist Party meeting disappointed investors.
The People’s Bank of China on Monday cut the seven-day reverse repo rate, a key short-term policy rate, in the first reduction in almost a year. Chinese banks followed the move about an hour later by lowering their main benchmark lending rates, making it less costly to borrow for mortgages and other loans.
While modest, the concerted moves underlined authorities’ urgency to bolster an economy growing at the slowest pace in more than a year. They come just a day after the party published a sweeping document upholding President Xi Jinping’s plan to put technology at the center of China’s economic future while tolerating slower growth in the near term.