Commentary In the face of mounting economic troubles, Beijing finally blinked. As the country enters a key month of Chinese New Year, Winter Olympic games, while faced with an economic slowdown, persistent consumption and property sector issues, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to bite the bullet and interest rates to spur growth. The People’s Bank of China on Jan. 17 said it would cut the interest rate on one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans—the central bank’s one-year loans to commercial banks—by ten basis points to 2.85 percent. The move was the first time China’s central bank cut the MLF rate since the beginning of the pandemic. It also cut the seven-day reverse repo rate for the first time in almost two years. A few days later on Jan. 19, it cut the one-year and five-year loan prime rates, the key benchmark rates behind residential mortgage loans. China’s easing measures …