The central bank: will lower the interest rates of various structural monetary policy tools by 0.25 percentage points.

On this afternoon, the State Council Information Office held a press conference. Zou Lan, the spokesperson and deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, and Li Bin, the spokesperson and deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, introduced the effectiveness of monetary and financial policies in support of high-quality development of the real economy, and answered questions from reporters. The central bank will lower the interest rates of various structural monetary policy tools by 0.25 percentage points. Zou Lan stated that the People's Bank of China will first implement two policy measures. Firstly, lowering the interest rates of various structural monetary policy tools to increase the enthusiasm of banks in key areas for credit extension. The interest rates of various structural monetary policy tools will be lowered by 0.25 percentage points. The one-year interest rate for various re-lending will be reduced from the current 1.5% to 1.25%. The quota for loans for technological innovation and technological upgrading will be increased from 800 billion yuan to 1.2 trillion yuan. Zou Lan stated that the quota for loans for technological innovation and technological upgrading will be increased, and the scope of support will be expanded. The quota for loans for technological innovation and technological upgrading will be increased by 400 billion yuan to a total of 1.2 trillion yuan, and privately-owned small and medium-sized enterprises with high levels of research and development investment will be included in the support area. The weighted average interest rate for new corporate loans and new individual housing loans issued in December 2025 is approximately 3.1%. Zou Lan stated that in December 2025, the weighted average interest rate of new corporate loans and new individual housing loans issued is approximately 3.1%, which is 2.5 percentage points and 2.6 percentage points lower than the second half of 2018, respectively. The effect of monetary and financial policies supporting the real economy in 2025 is significant. Zou Lan stated that based on the financial data for the whole year of 2025, the effect of monetary and financial policies supporting the real economy is significant, with the overall financial scale maintaining a rapid growth. By the end of December 2025, the scale of social financing increased by 8.3% year-on-year, the broad money supply (M2) increased by 8.5% year-on-year, significantly higher than the nominal economic growth rate. The credit support remains strong. The quota for re-lending to support agriculture and small businesses will be increased by 500 billion yuan, with a total quota of 1 trillion yuan for loans to small and medium-sized privately-owned enterprises. Zou Lan stated that the loans for agriculture and small businesses and rediscount will be used together to increase the quota. The quota for loans to support agriculture and small businesses will be increased by 500 billion yuan, with a total quota of 1 trillion yuan designated for loans to small and medium-sized privately-owned enterprises, focusing on support for small and medium-sized privately-owned enterprises. Non-loan financing methods such as bonds account for over 50% of the incremental social financing scale, indicating significant progress in the structural reform of financial supply-side. Zou Lan stated that in the increment of the social financing scale in 2025, non-loan financing methods such as bonds account for more than 50%, demonstrating significant progress in the structural reform of financial supply-side. The risk-sharing tools for bonds of technological innovation and privately-owned enterprises will be merged to provide a total quota of 200 billion yuan for re-lending. Zou Lan stated that the risk-sharing tools for bonds of technological innovation and privately-owned enterprises will be merged to provide a total quota of 200 billion yuan for re-lending. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange The volume of foreign exchange market transactions in 2025 reached 42.6 trillion US dollars, reaching a historical high. Li Bin stated that the effectiveness of foreign exchange management services for the real economy significantly improved in 2025. A total of 28 measures were introduced under three comprehensive policies. Since the implementation of these policies in the last quarter, a total of over 220 billion US dollars of relevant facilitation business has been conducted nationwide. Providing more convenient online foreign exchange services for entities engaging in new trade formats like cross-border e-commerce, with a total of over 1 billion transactions and services for more than 1.8 million small, micro, and medium-sized merchants. Promoting 30 banks to participate in reforming the foreign exchange exhibition industry. Including business under the exhibition reform, 23 trillion US dollars of cross-border payment business was processed with non-inspection orders based on enterprise instructions in 2025, an increase of 33% compared to 2024. The volume of foreign exchange market transactions in 2025 reached 42.6 trillion US dollars, and the corporate foreign exchange hedging ratio reached 30%, both reaching historical highs. A total of 6 trillion yuan was injected through various open market operations in 2025. Li Bin stated that a total of 6 trillion yuan was injected through various open market operations in 2025. Among them, 3.8 trillion yuan was injected through repurchase agreements and 1.2 trillion yuan was used to buy government bonds. This article is extracted from "Cailianshe", edited by Xv Wenqiang.