Zhu Hexin, Vice President of the People's Bank of China and Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said at the press conference held by the State Council Information Office on April 18 that there is still room for monetary policy in the future. He will closely observe the policy effect, economic recovery and the achievement of goals, and make good use of reserve tools at the right time. The reporter learned that the relevant departments will strengthen the monitoring of fund idling and improve the management assessment mechanism.
Reduce the reserve requirement by 0.5 percentage points, and release medium and long-term liquidity of more than 1 trillion yuan; Timely cut interest rates, cut the small refinancing and rediscount interest rates of agricultural support by 0.25 percentage points, and guide the market quoted interest rate (LPR) of loans over 5 years to reduce by 0.25 percentage points; The issuance of 500 billion yuan of collateral supplementary loan (PSL) has been completed, supporting the "three major projects"; The People's Bank of China has set up 500 billion yuan of re loans for scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation... Since this year, the People's Bank of China has comprehensively used a variety of policy tools to support the economic recovery.
Under the guidance of monetary policy, financial support for the real economy remained stable, which can be seen from a number of data: at the end of March, the growth rate of social financing scale was 8.7%, and the new social financing scale in the first quarter was 12.9 trillion yuan; M2 growth rate was 8.3%, with an increase of 12.5 trillion yuan in the first quarter; The growth rate of RMB loan balance was 9.6%, with an increase of 9.5 trillion yuan in the first quarter.
"This year, the People's Bank of China has paid more attention to guiding the balanced growth of credit of financial institutions. Although the scale of new social financing in the first quarter fell back on a year-on-year basis, it is still at a historical high level. While stabilizing its support for the real economy, it has avoided excessive upsurge leading to insufficient stamina, which is conducive to enhancing the sustainability of credit growth." Zhang Wenhong, head of the Investigation and Statistics Department of the People's Bank of China, said.
At the same time, the cost of financing has declined steadily. The interest rate of newly issued corporate loans in the first quarter was 3.75%, down 0.22 percentage points year on year; In particular, the interest rate of newly issued individual housing loans was 3.71%, down 0.46 percentage points year on year.
"Judging from the recent signals released by the regulatory authorities, the follow-up monetary policy orientation is still loose, and the policy with greater strength may still be on the way." Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank, said that although the probability of further easing in the short term is not high under the requirements of the previous monetary policy and the current stable exchange rate, anti spin and other requirements, the RRR and interest rate reduction are still in the policy toolbox.
While there is sufficient space for aggregate policy, relevant structural tools are also continuing to work. Zou Lan, Director of the Monetary Policy Department of the People's Bank of China, said that by the end of March 2024, the total amount of structural monetary policy instruments was 7.5 trillion yuan, accounting for about 17% of the total assets of the People's Bank of China. There are 10 existing tools, which have been continuously integrated and optimized, and the support field has basically covered the "five major articles".
Recently, the People's Bank of China has also set up new loans for scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation, encouraging and guiding financial institutions to increase financial support for technology-based SMEs, key areas of technological transformation and equipment upgrading projects.
"Policies alone are not enough. We need to guide financial resources to focus on key areas through incentive mechanisms." Zhu Hexin stressed that we need to give full play to structural monetary policy tools, make good use of the newly established 500 billion yuan of scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation refinancing, and support the digital, intelligent, and high-end upgrading and transformation of small and medium-sized scientific and technological enterprises and key areas. Relax the recognition criteria for inclusive small and micro loans to no more than 20 million yuan for a single credit, and guide more financial resources to precisely invest in inclusive areas.
