中國央行對利率自由度輕踩剎車

Only days after formally granting China’s lenders greater freedom to set their own deposit rates, the country’s central bank has moved in the opposite direction by quietly asking several banks not to raise rates too sharply

僅僅幾天之前，中國央行(PBoC)才正式給了商業銀行設定本行存款利率的更大自由度。如今，中國央行又採取了相反的動作，悄悄要求幾家銀行不要把利率升得太高。

The “window guidance” from the People’s Bank of China is the latest sign of the delicate balance that authorities are seeking between structural reform to promote long-term growth and short-term support for a slowing economy through lower interest rates.

此次“窗口指導”凸顯了中國當局想在長短期目標間實現微妙平衡的又一次努力。長期而言，中國希望通過結構改革推動長期增長，而短期有希望降低利率以支撐經濟放緩。

The PBoC has cut benchmark lending and deposit rates twice since November in an effort to lower businesses’ financing costs and cushion the slowdown.

自去年11月以來，中國央行已兩次下調基準貸款和存款利率，以降低企業融資成本並緩衝增長放緩的影響。

But the bank coupled both rate cuts with parallel measures that allowed banks wider latitude to set actual deposit rates higher than the benchmark.

但是，在這兩次降息的同時，中國央行都推出了一些同步措施，允許銀行更自由地設定高於基準的實際存款利率。