Asian Economic Calendar: Key Events and Consensus Expectations for 15 November 2023

<p>Activity data from China will be the focus. </p><p>Base effects are expected to likely cause industrial production to drop, although the consensus is for unchanged (y/y figures). The official manufacturing PMI is in contraction. Base effects too should, on the other hand, help retail sales bounce from Covid-impacted October 2022. The data for the first week of October will benefit from the Golden Week holiday.</p><p>Also Coming up today is the monthly PBOC Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) rate setting. </p><ul><li>The MLF rate is currently 2.5%. </li><li>

Due around 0115 GMT.
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The MLF rate is a benchmark interest rate that banks in China can use to borrow funds from the People's Bank of China for a period of 6 months to 1 year, medium-term liquidity to commercial banks.
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The rate is normally announced on the 15th of each month.
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The interest rate on the MLF loans is typically higher than the benchmark lending rate (more on these below), which encourages banks to use the facility only when they face a shortage of funds.</li><li>MLF loans are secured by collateral, which can be a wide range of assets including bonds, stocks, and other financial instruments. The collateral ensures that the PBOC can recover the funds if the borrower defaults on the loan.</li></ul><p>
The MLF rate sets the scene for the monthly Loan Prime Rate (LPR) setting on the 20th.
Current LPRs:
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3.45% for the one year
</li><li>4.20% for the five year
</li></ul><ul><li>This snapshot from the ForexLive economic data calendar, <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/EconomicCalendar" target="_blank" title="Click here!">access it here</a>.</li><li>The times in the left-most column are GMT.</li><li>The numbers in the right-most column are the 'prior' (previous month/quarter as the case may be) result. The number in the column next to that, where there is a number, is the consensus median expected.</li><li>I’ve noted data for New Zealand and Australia with text as the similarity of the little flags can sometimes be confusing.
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This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.