SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE- China’s central bank is widely expected to leave a key policy rate unchanged when rolling over maturing medium-term loans on Wednesday, a Reuters survey showed.
A weak currency remains the main constraint limiting the authorities’ monetary easing efforts, analysts and traders said, despite an unexpected credit contraction in April that has warranted more policy stimulus to prop up the world’s second-largest economy.
In a Reuters poll of 32 market watchers conducted this week, 27, or 84 percent , of all respondents expected the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to leave the interest rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans unchanged at 2.50 percent from the previous operation.
And the remaining five market participants projected a marginal interest rate reduction.
In addition, 24, or 75 percent of all respondents predicted that the central bank would partially roll over the maturing 125 billion yuan ($17.27 billion) worth of such loans.
