On 3 April, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cut the interest rate it pays banks to park funds with the central bank to 0.35% from 0.72%. The PBOC had last cut the rate in November 2008. Beijing also lowered the reserve requirement ratio by 100 basis points for rural and small city commercial banks, which have high exposure to rural and small businesses. It was the nation’s 10th reserve requirement ratio cut since the beginning of 2018.
