China's loan prime rates remain unchanged

BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's one-year loan prime rate (LPR), a market-based benchmark lending rate, came in at 3.65 percent Tuesday, unchanged from the previous month.

The over-five-year LPR, on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, also remained unchanged from the previous reading of 4.3 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center.

The country had lowered the one-year rate by 5 basis points to 3.65 percent in August. The over-five-year rate had been slashed by 15 basis points twice this year, first in May and again last month to the current figure. The moves aimed at bolstering growth.

The monthly-released data is a pricing reference rate for banks and is based on rates of the central bank's open market operations, especially the medium-term lending facility rate (MLF).

The interest rate of the latest incidence of the MLF last Thursday also remained unchanged from the previous operation on Aug. 15, when China's central bank cut the rate by 10 basis points to 2.75 percent.