Fatal shooting in New Mexico park casts pall over Legislature and its ability to contain crime
Russian drone attack on Kyiv injures several, sparks fires, Ukrainian officials say
Turkish prosecutors demand Istanbul mayor Imamoglu to be jailed pending trial
Top overall seed Auburn reaches first Sweet 16 since 2019, turning away Creighton 82-70
Piastri seeking to capitalize on breakthrough F1 pole at Chinese Grand Prix
Australia budget to dole out energy bill relief as general election looms
UK's Reeves to set out 2 billion pounds civil service spending cuts
US FAA pilot safety messaging system resumes operations after outage
LeBron James is available to return from his 7-game injury absence when Lakers face Bulls
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank will cut banks' reserve requirement ratio and interest rates at the "appropriate time" and strengthen the resilience of its forex market, it said on Friday during a quarterly meeting of its monetary policy committee.
The committee of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) suggested stepping up monetary policy adjustment and control, and improving monetary policy to be more forward-looking, targeted and effective, according to a statement of the bank's quarterly meeting of its monetary policy committee, which was held on Tuesday.
The remarks, similar to PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng's comments earlier this month, came after modest economic growth in the first two months of the year, thanks to government policy support. But U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hikes may bring more headaches to policymakers in coming months.
"China's economy is generally stable, making progress while maintaining stability... However, it still faces difficulties and challenges including insufficient domestic demand and many hidden risks," said the PBOC statement.
The bank will keep liquidity ample and push forward to lower social financing costs, the statement added.
"Behaviours that disrupt forex market order will be resolutely dealt with, and the bank will prevent currency overshooting risks," the statement said, adding the PBOC will keep yuan reasonably stable.
In addition, the bank will study creating new structural monetary policy tools and support the investment and financing of technology innovation, consumption boosting and foreign trade stabilisation.
China held benchmark lending rates steady for the fifth straight month in March on Thursday, matching market expectations.
Analysts say pressures to stabilise the yuan has eased, while short-term economic stabilisation suggests a loosening monetary policy is not very urgent at present, but expectations for it still remains.
(Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Chizu Nomiyama)
