The People's Bank of China today announced a series of measures aimed at providing additional support to the Chinese economy. Although activity data published earlier this month should solid growth, house prices have shown renewed weakness in recent months. Officials advised that the aim of today's measures is to"further strengthen counter-cyclical adjustment of monetary policy and support stable growth of the economy."

Officials today announced a cut in the seven-day reverse repo rate from 1.7 percent to 1.2 percent. They also announced that the reserve requirement ratio will be cut by 50 basis points, estimating that this will boost liquidity in China's banking system by more than $140 billion, and indicated the further cuts might be forthcoming. Mortgage rates will also be lowered.

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