China's central bank announces key move to liberalize bank lending rates

A staff member is seen at a bank in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province. China's central bank announced a key move Friday to liberalize bank lending rates, underlining the government's resolve to push market reform to revitalize the slowing economy. The floor limit for lending interest rates will be canceled and financial institutions can decide their own rates following commercial principles, said a People's Bank of China (PBOC) statement. Controls on bill discount rates will be scrapped and the ceiling limit for lending from rural banks will be eliminated. It did not remove the ceiling on deposit rates, and retained the lending interest rates for personal homes for the healthy growth of the property market.