BEIJING - China has basically completed lowering the interest rate of existing mortgage loans, benefiting tens of millions of households, the central bank said in an article on Monday.

According to the People's Bank of China (PBOC), interest rates on more than 22 trillion yuan ($3.06 trillion) of existing mortgage loans were lowered, with an average interest rate drop of 0.73 percentage points.

The move has benefited over 50 million households and can reduce the borrowers' expenses by 160-170 billion yuan yearly, with an average annual reduction of 3,200 yuan per household, the PBOC said.