China Loan Prime Rate (LPR)

China's People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced the August 2026 Loan Prime Rate (LPR) on August 20 via the National Interbank Funding Center. The one-year LPR held at 3.00% and the over-five-year LPR at 3.50%, both unchanged from July 2026. This marks the 15th consecutive month without an adjustment, a streak running since June 2025.

The 7-day reverse repo rate, which serves as the pricing anchor for LPR quotations, has also remained on hold since it was cut in May 2025, leaving no basis for a shift in this month's LPR fixing. The last actual LPR adjustment was that May 2025 reduction of 10 basis points across both tenors.

Despite the unchanged LPR quotes, actual lending rates have continued to drift lower. The weighted average rate on newly issued corporate loans fell slightly below 3.0% in July, while new personal mortgage loans averaged around 3.1%. July economic data covering industrial output, retail sales, and credit issuance reflected persistent weakness in domestic demand.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) published the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) via the National Interbank Funding Center (NIFC) on July 20, 2026. The one-year LPR stood at 3.00% and the over-five-year LPR at 3.50%, both unchanged from the previous month (June 2026). This marks the fourteenth consecutive month without a change in either tenor.

The seven-day reverse repo rate, which serves as the pricing foundation for the LPR, has remained unchanged since its reduction in May 2025, leaving the LPR's basis unaltered this month as well. According to data presented by the PBOC at a July 15 press conference, the weighted average interest rate on newly issued corporate loans was approximately 3.0% in June 2026, roughly 20 basis points lower than a year earlier, while the rate on new personal housing loans was about 3.1%, essentially flat compared with the same period last year.

Data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration showed that commercial banks' net interest margin fell to a record low of 1.40% at the end of the first quarter of 2026, down 0.02 percentage points from the end of 2025. On the economic side, GDP growth slowed to 4.3% in the second quarter, the weakest pace in three and a half years, after expanding 5.0% in the first quarter. PBOC Deputy Governor Zou Lan stated at the July 15 briefing that the central bank will continue to implement a moderately accommodative monetary policy, calibrating the pace and timing of action in response to evolving domestic and international economic and financial conditions.

China's Loan Prime Rate (LPR) for June was set at 3.00% for the one-year tenor and 3.50% for the over-five-year tenor, both unchanged from the previous month, according to the June 22 release by the National Interbank Funding Center under authorization of the People's Bank of China.

The LPR is a monthly lending benchmark based on quotes submitted by designated panel banks. The one-year rate serves as a reference for corporate and household loans, while the over-five-year rate is a benchmark for mortgage rates; both tenors were left unchanged in June.