The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, announced on Feb 28 that it will cut the benchmark deposit and loan interest rates by 0.25 basis point starting from March 1.

Since March 1, the one-year loan interest rate will be lowered to 5.35 percent, while the one-year saving rate will drop to 2.5 percent, according to a statement posted on the website of the People’s Bank of China.

The central bank also decided to allow more flexibility for the interest rates. The ceiling for the floating range for the saving rate could be 1.3 times the bench mark rate, instead of the previous 1.2 times, according to the statement.

A cut in the required reserve ratio announced Feb 4 was the first across-the-board reduction since May 2012.