PBOC plans to cut reserve requirement ratio

China's central bank will cut the reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point for commercial banks that have lent a certain portion of their loans to agriculture-related firms as well as micro and small enterprises.

Beginning on June 16, the reduction will apply to banks whose new loans to the farming sector or micro and small enterprises last year exceeded half of their total new lending in 2013.

The People's Bank of China also is requiring that the banks' outstanding loans to the farming sector or MSEs at the end of last year should exceed 30 percent of their total outstanding loans that year, the PBOC said in a statement published on its website on Monday.