China left its one-year loan prime rate at 3.00% for a 17th month. With producer prices up 5.0% and new-home prices down 2.8%, that same rate is a negative real cost for factories and close to 6% for homeowners.
PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng told the Financial Street Forum the central bank will study making the overnight reverse repo the main policy rate, even as loan prime rates stayed on hold for a 17th month. Source
China's one-year loan prime rate (LPR) held at 3.00% on Tuesday, and the five-year stayed at 3.50%. That is a 17th straight month without a change, and all 22 respondents in a Reuters survey saw it coming. Neither rate has moved since a 10 basis-point cut in May 2025, and the People's Bank of China (PBOC) shows no urgency to change that. What matters more is what the frozen rate costs, and that depends on which side of the economy you sit.
