
6.7195 is Thursday’s USD/CNY central rate. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the fixing for the coming trading session against the previous day’s 6.7192 and a Reuters estimate of 6.6756.
Maintaining price stability, including exchange rate stability, and supporting economic growth are the core monetary policy goals of the People's Bank of China (PBoC). Its remit also includes financial reforms aimed at opening up and developing the financial market.
State ownership by the People's Republic of China (PRC) means the PBoC is not regarded as an autonomous institution. Rather than the governor, it is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee Secretary who exerts key influence over the bank’s management and direction. The Chairman of the State Council nominates the secretary. Mr Pan Gongsheng currently occupies both posts, however.
A wider range of monetary policy instruments is available to the PBoC than to its counterparts in Western economies. Its main tools comprise the seven-day Reverse Repo Rate (RRR), Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF), foreign exchange interventions and Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR). China’s benchmark interest rate, however, is the Loan Prime Rate (LPR). Adjustments to the LPR directly affect market borrowing rates for loans and mortgages, as well as interest paid on savings. The central bank can also use LPR changes to influence Chinese Renminbi exchange rates.
Private banks are permitted in China, where 19 such lenders account for only a small share of the financial system. According to The Straits Times, digital lenders WeBank and MYbank are the largest, backed by technology giants Tencent and Ant Group. China authorised domestic lenders funded entirely by private capital to operate in its state-dominated financial sector in 2014.
