China keeps one and five year loan prime rates unchanged for 11th month, as Q1 growth hits 5.0 percent and inflation picks up, factory gate prices rise in March
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Solid economic growth at the start of the year and a pick-up in inflation reduced the need for fresh monetary easing to support the broader economy.
It kept the one-year LPR at 3.00% and five-year LPR at 3.50%.
In a Reuters survey of 20 market participants conducted last week, all participants predicted no change to either of the two rates.
The Chinese economy’s 5.0% annual growth pace in the first quarter sits at the top of its full-year target range of 4.5%-5.0%, highlighting a resilience that sets it apart from much of Asia, helped by ample strategic oil reserves and a diversified energy mix.
China’s factory-gate prices rose for the first time in more than three years in March, in an early sign that the war in Iran is feeding cost pressures into the world’s second-largest economy.
