China’s central bank will increase the frequency of its money supply operations, with immediate effect, in a move to ensure there is ample liquidity in the banking system amid unprecedented capital outflow.
The People’s Bank of China is facing a tricky balancing act as it attempts to lower financing costs to support economic growth without resorting to heavy-handed monetary easing that could fuel capital flight.
The PBoC has cut benchmark interest rates six times since late 2014 and injected about Rmb2.5tn ($384bn) into the banking system by cutting the share of deposits that lenders must hold in reserve at the central bank. The moves were aimed at stimulating an economy that last year grew at its slowest pace since 1990.