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PBOC leaves Loan Prime Rates unchanged in August

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, announced to leave its Loan Prime Rates (LPRs) unchanged on Thursday. The one-year and five-year LPRs were at 3.00% and 3.50%, respectively.

PBOC leaves Loan Prime Rates unchanged in August

China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), decided to maintain its Loan Prime Rates (LPRs) steady during the month of August. The one-year LPR was 3.00% and the five-year LPR stood at 3.50%. As of the time of publication on August 20, the AUD/USD currency pair was trading 0.14% lower at 0.7115. China's central bank's main goals are to maintain price stability, including exchange rate stability, and to foster economic growth.

The PBOC is a state-owned institution and its management is influenced by the Chinese Communist Party's Committee Secretary, typically appointed by the Chairman of the State Council. Unlike many Western banks, the PBOC utilizes a diverse range of monetary policy tools, such as the seven-day Reverse Repo Rate, Medium-term Lending Facility, foreign exchange interventions, and Reserve Requirement Ratio.

The Loan Prime Rate is a key benchmark rate in China, influencing loan and mortgage rates as well as savings interest rates. The implementation of changes to the LPR can also impact China's exchange rate policies. It's worth noting that there are only 19 private banks in China, with digital lenders WeBank and MYbank, backed by tech giants Tencent and Ant Group, being the largest.

In 2014, China permitted domestic lenders with fully capitalized private funds to operate within the state-led financial system.

Written by urgent.news from FXStreet's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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The net external financial assets of the nation decreased by nearly $700 billion. This decrease is attributed to the stock market boom in the second quarter. According to the Bank of Korea on July 7, the net external financial assets, also referred to as ‘pure external financial assets,’ totaled $649.1 billion as of the end of June. This represents a decrease of $677.1 billion from the end of March. The term ‘net external financial assets’ refers to the difference between external financial assets and external financial liabilities. It is calculated by subtracting the total amount of money that the nation owes to foreigners, such as foreign exchange reserves, from the total amount of money that foreigners owe to the nation, including direct and indirect investments. At the end of June, external financial assets amounted to $1.98 trillion, a decrease of $350.8 billion from the end of March. External financial liabilities also decreased by $326.3 billion to $1.33 trillion during the same period. The decrease in external financial assets was mainly due to a $476.6 billion decrease in portfolio investment, which includes stock and bond investments. The decline in the stock market, as represented by the KOSPI, which fell by 12.2% from 2,754.18 at the end of March to 2,415.38 at the end of June, affected this decrease. In contrast, direct investment increased by $89.7 billion. The decrease in external financial liabilities was driven by a $364.7 billion decrease in direct investment. The won-dollar exchange rate, which averaged 1,250.1 won per dollar in the second quarter, was 6.9 won lower than the average of 1,256.0 won per dollar in the first quarter. The Bank of Korea stated that "the decrease in net external financial assets is due to the decline in stock prices and the appreciation of the dollar."

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