BEIJING - The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, has decided to lower refinancing and rediscount interest rates.

With effect from Wednesday, it will lower the interest rates of reloans supporting agriculture, and small firms by 0.25 percentage points, while lowering rediscount rates by 0.25 percentage points to 2 percent.

In the meantime, the PBOC will lower the interest rates of financial stability refinancing loans by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75 percent.