China’s central bank maintained the interest rate for CNY 500 bln worth of one-year policy loans via the medium-term lending facility (MLF) at 2.5%, aiming to stabilize the yuan and evaluate the effectiveness of recent economic support measures. Meanwhile, China’s current account surplus significantly narrowed to USD 55.2 bln in Q4 of 2023 from USD 103.1 bln a year earlier, marking the smallest surplus since Q1 of 2020.