China cuts key mortgage reference rate as Covid-19 bites

A medical worker collects a swab sample from a woman at a nucleic acid testing site on a street during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, on Friday, May 20, 2022. - Reuters

BEIJING, May 20, 2022 (AFP): China on Friday announced it would cut a key interest rate in a boost to home buyers and debt-mired developers as the country's economy is slowed by Covid-19 restrictions ripping across major cities.

Prolonged virus lockdowns have constricted supply chains, quelled demand and stalled manufacturing in the last major economy welded to a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic.