BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's one-year loan prime rate (LPR), a market-based benchmark lending rate, came in at 3.1 percent Monday, unchanged from the previous month.

 

The over-five-year LPR, on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, also remained unchanged from the previous reading of 3.6 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center.

 

The LPR, released once a month, is a key benchmark for loan interest rate pricing. The one-year LPR and over-five-year LPR dropped 35 basis points and 60 basis points, respectively, since the start of 2024.

 

Lowered LPRs have kept loan interest rates at historically low levels. According to the latest data from China's central bank, the interest rate for newly issued corporate loans was approximately 3.43 percent last December, a year-on-year decrease of 0.36 percentage points.

 

The interest rate for personal housing loans stood at 3.11 percent last month, representing a year-on-year decrease of 0.88 percentage points, the data showed.

 

China will further strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments by leveraging a range of monetary policy tools, including interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio, to maintain ample liquidity and ensure a supportive environment for social financing, Xuan Changneng, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said last week.