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BEIJING, April 20-- China's market-based benchmark lending rate lowered Monday, another sign that the country is determined to channel funds into the real economy via more flexible monetary policy, analysts said. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) fell 20 basis points from a month earlier to arrive at 3.85 percent, while the above-five-year LPR fell 10 basis points from the previous reading to 4.65 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center run by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank. The reduction is in line with market expectations, as a key meeting last Friday decided to guide market interest rates lower as part of a broader policy package to cushion against the economic fallout of COVID-19. That the declines between the one-year and above-five-year LPR differed demonstrated China's resolve to offer targeted monetary support for the real economy other than real estate speculation, said Wen Bin, a chief researcher with China Minsheng Bank. Rather than resorting to massive stimulus plans to shore up an economy faced with uNPRecedented challenges, China has vowed targeted and accurate measures to help firms tide over the difficult period. To support the real economy, especially medium-sized, small and micro enterprises, China will step up the use of tools including reserve requirement ratio cuts, interest rate cuts and reloans, according to the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Friday. | 
