China held its loan prime rates for a 14th straight month

The rate did not move. China left its one-year loan prime rate at 3.0 percent and its over-five-year rate at 3.5 percent on July 20, the fourteenth consecutive monthly fixing without a change since the two rates were last cut in May 2025.

The loan prime rate is China's main lending benchmark. It is published on the 20th of each month by the National Interbank Funding Center, which averages quotes from a panel of banks under a framework the People's Bank of China oversees. The one-year rate prices most corporate and consumer loans. The over-five-year rate is the reference for most mortgages. Both have sat at their current levels, the lowest on record, since a 10 basis point reduction in May 2025.

The hold was widely expected, and the reason lies in the growth data. China's economy expanded 4.3 percent in the second quarter, its slowest quarterly pace since the end of 2022 and short of Beijing's full-year target of around 5 percent. A slowdown of that kind would ordinarily argue for cheaper credit. The central bank has instead leaned on targeted structural tools, relending facilities and sector-specific programmes, that direct financing toward priorities without lowering the price of credit across the whole economy.

Leaving the benchmark untouched keeps a conventional cut in reserve. Exports have held up and parts of the high-technology sector have stayed strong, which gives policymakers cover to wait. The next monthly fixing is due on August 20.