OREANDA-NEWS. November 28, 2014. On July 1, the PBC issued the Notice on Trading Prices in Interbank Foreign Exchange Market and Banks’ Exchange Rate Quotations (PBC Document [2014] No.188) to further improve the market-based RMB exchange rate regime.

On July 2, the Monetary Policy Committee of the PBC convened its second regular quarterly meeting in 2014.

On July 3, the PBC and the Bank of Korea signed an MOU on Establishing RMB Clearing Arrangements in Seoul.

On July 15, the PBC reported to the Finance and Economy Committee of the National People’s Congress on the conduct of monetary policy in the first half of 2014.

On July 18, the PBC and the Central Bank of Argentina renewed the bilateral local currency swap agreement. The size of the swap facility is 70 billion yuan/90 Argentina pesos. The agreement is valid for three years and can be extended upon mutual consent.

On July 21, the PBC and the Swiss National Bank signed a bilateral local currency swap agreement. The size of the swap facility is 150 billion yuan/21 billion Swiss francs. The agreement is valid for three years and can be extended upon mutual consent.

On August 1, the China Monetary Policy Report for Q2 2014 was released.

On August 21, the PBC and the Bank of Mongolia renewed a bilateral local currency swap agreement. The size of the swap facility is 15 billion yuan/4.5 trillion Mongolian Tugrik. The agreement is valid for three years and can be extended upon mutual consent.

On August 27,in order to implement the decision adopted at the Executive Meeting of the State Council on increasing agro-supporting and small and micro enterprise-supporting central bank lending and discount, and to build the financial sector’s capacity to provide services to the agricultural sector, rural areas, farmers, and other weak links in the economy,the PBC decided to increase the agro-supporting central bank lending quota of selected branch offices by 20 billion yuan to guide rural financial institutions to increase agro-lending and reduce the financing cost of the agricultural sector, rural areas, and farmers.

In September,the PBC launched the Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF), which was designated to inject medium-term base money to financial institutions that have complied with the requirements of the macro-prudential management. The interest rates of MLF will serve as the medium-term policy rate, and the MLF is expected to play a role in reducing the financing cost of the real sector.

On September 16,the PBC and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka signed a bilateral local currency swap agreement. The size of the swap facility is 10 billion yuan/LKR 225 billion. The agreement is valid for three years and can be extended upon mutual consent.

On September 28,the General Administration Department of the PBC released the Notice on Cross-border RMB Settlement of Debt-financing Instruments Issued by Overseas Institutions in China (PBC General Administration Department Document [2014] No.221), to promote facilitation of trade and investment.

On September 29,with the authorization of the PBC, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) announced to launch the direct trading between RMB and Euro on the interbank foreign exchange market. This will help strengthen bilateral economic and trade ties between China and Euro zone member states, facilitate the use of RMB and Euro in bilateral trade and investment, and lower the currency conversion cost for economic entities.

On September 30,the Monetary Policy Committee of the PBC convened its third regular quarterly meeting in 2014.

On September 30,the PBC and the CBRC jointly released the Notice on Further Improving Financial Services for Real Estate Sector (PBC Document [2014] No. 287), in order to further improve financial services to government-subsidized housing projects, continue to support the reasonable home buying demand of the household sector, and promote the sustainable development of the real estate market.