The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has published its monetary policy implementation report for the third quarter of 2026, reaffirming a moderately accommodative stance and plans to strengthen countercyclical support. Policy will maintain ample liquidity and relatively loose financing conditions as the economy faces weak demand relative to supply, structural divergence and external shocks. Planned changes include diversifying loan pricing benchmarks and reducing businesses’ overall financing costs.
Measures taken during the year included a 0.25 percentage point reduction in the pledged supplementary lending rate. The PBOC increased the relending quota for technological innovation and upgrading by CNY 200 billion and raised the support ratio from 60% to 100%. Relending quotas for agriculture and small businesses rose by CNY 500 billion, including CNY 300 billion for private enterprises. By the end of September, outstanding total social financing and broad money supply had grown 7.1% and 7.2% year over year, respectively. Rates on newly issued corporate loans were slightly below 3% in September, about 0.2 percentage points lower than a year earlier.
The next phase will promote a shift from loan pricing predominantly based on the loan prime rate toward more varied benchmarks. Further disclosure of businesses’ total loan financing costs and reductions in intermediary charges will support efforts to keep borrowing costs low. Changes to the monetary policy operating framework will seek to keep short-term money market rates close to the policy rate. Targeted support will continue for domestic demand, technological innovation and smaller businesses, while exchange rate policy will retain flexibility and guard against excessive movements.