China’s central bank unexpectedly slashed its seven-day reverse repo rate by 20 basis points today (March 30), suggesting a willingness to deploy larger-scale monetary stimulus to shore up the virus-hit economy.

The People’s Bank of China injected 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) into the interbank market via reverse repo on Monday morning, while lowering the rate to 2.2%, a rare move for the central bank. 

The 20bp cut implies that the central bank is delivering stronger countercyclical measures