BEIJING, May 7 -- China's central bank announced on Wednesday it will lower the interest rates on personal housing provident fund loans by 0.25 percentage points starting Thursday.

The interest rates on personal housing provident fund loans with maturities of five years or less and those with maturities above five years will be adjusted to 2.1 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively, for first-home buyers, and to no lower than 2.525 percent and 3.075 percent, respectively, for second-home buyers, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement.

The adjustments are expected to save homebuyers' interest payments by more than 20 billion yuan (about 2.8 billion U.S. dollars) per year, PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng told a press conference.