BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s central bank said on Friday it will spur financial institutions to expand support for consumption and foreign trade amid a protracted trade war with the United States.
Beijing stepped up efforts this week to cushion the economic damage caused by the tariff conflict with Washington, announcing a raft of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts and a major injection of liquidity.
The People’s Bank of China will maintain its “appropriately loose (stance), flexibly calibrate the intensity and pace of policy implementation based on domestic and global economic conditions and financial market developments,” the PBOC said in its first-quarter monetary policy report released on Friday.
The central bank will guide financial institutions to ramp up support for consumption, foreign trade, tech innovation, and small businesses, the report said.
The PBOC would also employ a mix of policy tools, including reserve requirements, re-lending and open market operations, to keep liquidity ample, and use targeted policy tools to provide low-cost funding support for key consumption sectors.
Further, the PBOC said it would issue consumption finance guidelines, directing banks to boost services with focus on key sectors like tourism, hospitality, entertainment, education and household services, while increasing funding for consumption infrastructure and logistics.
Separately, the central bank on Friday unveiled a 500-billion-yuan re-lending facility for elderly care and services consumption.
The PBOC reiterated that it would keep the yuan basically stable and prevent currency overshooting risks.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Kevin Yao; editing by Aidan Lewis and Mark Heinrich)
