Public housing fund rate rises 18 basis points
(Shanghai Daily)Updated: 2007-03-19 16:19 China's Ministry of Construction announced the rate raise for loans offered by the public housing fund by 0.18 percentage point yesterday, following the central bank's boosting of loan and savings interest rates.
"The slight raise won't affect the property market a lot, but may sway many potential buyers' plans," said Cong Cheng, an official with Shanghai's public housing fund management center.
The construction ministry announced the lift this time instead of the central bank, which means that the country regards the raise as a property policy, Cong said.
The central bank moved to curb its booming credit and keep consumer prices stable by raising loan and savings interest rates by 0.27 percentage point on Saturday.
The one-year loan rate rose from 6.12 percent to 6.39 percent, and the one-year deposit rate climbed from 2.52 percent to 2.79 percent.
The hikes were the first since August, when the central bank also lifted the
benchmark one-year interest rate by 0.27 percentage point.
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