The Micro Effects of LPR Reform on Debt Financing Costs of SMEs
In August 2019,the People's Bank of China(PBOC)reformed and improved the Loan Prime Rate(LPR)with the goal of advancing interest rate marketization and enhancing the efficiency of interest rate transmis-sion.This reform has had a significant micro-level effect in reducing the debt financing costs for small and medi-um-sized enterprises(SMEs).Using data from small and medium-sized listed enterprises and main board listed enterprises in Shenzhen from 2014 to 2022,this paper applies a difference-in-differences(DID)method to as-sess the actual impact of the LPR reform on reducing SMEs'debt financing costs.The analysis reveals that,com-pared to large enterprises,the LPR reform had a more pronounced effect in lowering the debt financing costs for SMEs.This impact varies by the nature of the enterprise and the region.On the one hand,the reform has a greater impact on reducing the debt financing costs of private SMEs compared to state-owned enterprises.On the other hand,the difference in debt financing costs between large enterprises and SMEs is more significant in regions with higher levels of economic development than in regions with lower levels.In other words,the LPR reform has signifi-cantly reduced the debt financing costs for SMEs.
万方数据
维普
