China’s central bank on Friday said it would keep its prudent monetary policy “flexible and targeted” and strike a balance between economic growth and risk controls.
In its third-quarter monetary policy implementation report, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it would keep liquidity reasonably ample while it also saw risks in the property market generally under control.
“The prudent monetary policy should be flexible, targeted, and appropriate,” the central bank said.
The PBOC said it would “grasp the strength and rhythm of policy, handle the relationship between economic development and risk prevention, make cross cycle adjustments, maintain the overall stability of the economy.”
Policy sources and analysts have told Reuters that China’s central bank will likely move cautiously on loosening monetary policy to bolster the economy, as slowing economic growth and soaring factory inflation fuel concerns over stagflation.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy tapering is unlikely to have much impact on the PBOC, which steers policy mainly based on China’s own growth and inflation outlook, they said.
The PBOC will work with other state agencies and local governments to maintain steady and healthy development of the real estate market and protect consumers, it said.
Investors are worried about wider contagion from the property sector, which has seen a string of missed offshore debt payments and sell-offs in shares and bonds as China Evergrande Holdings, the world’s most indebted developer, repeatedly lurches to the brink of default.
At the end of September, the excess reserve ratio of Chinese financial institutions was at 1.4%, up 0.2 percentage points from the end of June, the central bank said.
The weighted average corporate lending rate was at 4.59% in September, down 0.04 percentage points from a year earlier and hovering near historical lows, it added.
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