This was in line with analysts' expectations, according to the news agency Bloomberg.
Demand for loans remains weak and banks' maintained interest rates suggest that commercial banks are unwilling to lower loan costs for companies and consumers before new stimulus measures are announced.
Prime Minister Li Qiang has promised interest rate cuts and long-term liquidity injections into the banking system this year – but "when the time is right".
The stimulus measures are intended to counteract the effects of Donald Trump's trade war, while China is struggling with weak consumption and deflationary pressure on the domestic market. A prolonged property crisis has also weighed on the world's second-largest economy, whose recovery after the pandemic has been slower than expected.
