【明報專訊】THE PEOPLE'S BANK OF CHINA has lowered the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by one percentage point. This is the first time an RRR cut of such an amplitude has come about since November 2008. It is far bigger than half a percentage point, which market participants expected it to be. Some mainland securities people reckon as much as 1.5 trillion yuan may pour out in consequence of the Chinese-style quantitative easing (QE) measure. Furthermore, the preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell last April to 49.2, lower than what it had been expected to be (49.6) and the lowest over twelve months. It is quite clear from these figures that there is such a growing tendency towards a downturn in China's real economy that its monetary policy will long remain loose.