China has cut two benchmark lending rates for the first time in almost a year as policymakers push ahead with cautious monetary support in an effort to spur more robust growth in the country’s struggling economy.The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was reduced by 10 basis points to 3.55 per cent, the People’s Bank of China said on Tuesday, while the five-year equivalent rate was lowered to 4.2 per cent from 4.3 per cent.

The rates, which are set by major banks and influence the cost of borrowing for businesses and households, indicate authorities’ latest effort to shift the policy framework towards easing as concern mounts over the trajectory of the world’s second-biggest economy.

China’s economy has failed to fully rebound six months after authorities unwound severe Covid-19 restrictions that had been in place for three years, with growth under pressure from trade headwinds and weakness in the property sector, which accounts for more than a quarter of activity.