LPR remains unchanged for nine months, experts say the threshold for reduction in the short term is still relatively high

The website of the China Foreign Exchange Trading Center announced on the 22nd that the LPR quotation has remained unchanged for nine consecutive months. Looking ahead, China Everbright Securities believes that there is little probability of a reduction in MLF rates and LPR quotations in the second quarter of 2023. Zhou Maohua, a macro researcher at the Financial Markets Department of China Everbright Bank, stated that the stable MLF rate, which serves as an anchor for LPR rates, and financial data from January to April indicate that current market interest rates are at a reasonable level, with some banks experiencing increasing pressure on net interest margins in recent years. Overall, in the short term, the threshold for lowering the LPR rate still remains relatively high.