Low crude prices may offer PBoC more room for a second rate cut

Depressed oil prices may provide Beijing with more leeway for a second interest-rate cut following November’s, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing various analysts. China spent US$234.4 billion to import oil in 2013, and surpassed the US as the world’s top buyer of crude in 2014 according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration. “A 30% fall in oil prices will boost Chinese GDP by about 1% next year,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics.