China's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate Monday for the first time in seven months to shore up the country's slowing economy amid restrictions under its radical "zero-COVID" policy to stem the novel coronavirus outbreak and a property market slump.The People's Bank of China said it had lowered the one-year loan prime rate by 0.05 percentage point to 3.65 percent. The central bank also said it had reduced the five-year loan prime rate -- the benchmark mortgage interest rate -- by 0.15 point to 4.30 percent, the first cut since May.The move came as the world's second-largest econom…READ FULL ARTICLE
