A view of the PBC's headquarters in Beijing Photo: cnsphoto

The People's Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, has released measures worth 3.3 trillion yuan ($470 billion) including cutting the reserve requirement ratio and loan arrangement to relieve the impact brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, a bank official said Friday.

Sun Guofeng, head of the PBC's monetary policy department, made the remarks at a press briefing of the bank's first quarter financial data,adding that the move reflects the counter-cyclical adjustment of monetary policy.

At the briefing, the spokesperson and head of the Statistics and Analysis Department at the PBC, Ran Jianhong, said that, due to the impact of the epidemic, the context of China's macro leverage ratio has changed, and the ratio should be allowed to rise accordingly. This is to expand effective support for the real economy and encourage the resumption of work and production.

Data from the PBC showed that in the first quarter, RMB deposits increased to 8.07 trillion yuan, 1.76 trillion higher than the same period last year, in which the residential deposit increased 6.47 trillion yuan while that of the non-financial business increased 1.86 trillion.

Ruan said that deposits from residents and non-financial enterprises increased due to supportive financial policies.

"The first quarter was a period when the economy was under pressure due to the impact of the epidemic. The financial system used a variety of tools flexibly to hedge against the adverse impact of the epidemic," Ruan said. "Commercial banks also provided more loans, which allowed the M2 growth rate to pick up sharply."

"According to the data, the savings held by ordinary people were relatively solid, and the deposits of enterprises increased considerably. This has laid a foundation for the smooth progress of the resumption of work and production," she added.