#CHINA-FINANCE-BOC-BENCHMARK INTEREST-LOWERED (CN)

(120705) — JIANGSU, July 5, 2012 (Xinhua) — A clerk counts cash notes at a bank in Ganyu County of east China’s Jiangsu Province, July 3, 2012. The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, announced on Thursday it will lower the benchmark interest rate of one-year deposits by 25 basis points and slash the one-year lending rate by 31 basis points starting Friday. (Xinhua/Si Wei)