In an exclusive interview conducted by China Global Television Network on Monday, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang said that the central bank’s monetary policy support prioritizes boosting credit over cutting interest rates lower, per Bloomberg.

Key quotes

“Will continue to be accommodative to support economic recovery in an aggregate sense.”

 China’s “real interest rate is pretty low” after taking inflation into account, suggesting that there’s limited room for large-scale rate cuts.

 The central bank’s “high priorities” are to maintain stable prices and maximize employment.

Market reaction

Yields on the benchmark Chinese government bond steadied Tuesday after slipping 1 basis point to 2.82% following Yi’s comments. Meanwhile, USD/CNY was last seen trading up 0.09% on the day at 6.6965. AUD/USD is attempting a minor bounce near 0.6925, almost unchanged on the day, as of writing.