China explainer: Six ways Beijing has tried to remedy economic slowdown and shares slide

China has tried to reboot its economy for the last year after it became obvious that a slowdown in early 2014 was turning into a steady decline in growth. Governments can pull many levers to influence the behaviour of households, businesses and investors.

Here are the six main ones Beijing has used:

Cutting interest rates

The cut on Tuesday is the fifth since November and brings interest rates in the country down to 4.86 per cent - an all-time low after having averaged 6.36 per cent between 1996 and last year. The People's Bank of China shaved another 0.25 per cent percentage points off the borrowing and deposit rates to spur bank lending and encourage savers to spend the cash rather than earn a declining return on their money.

Reserve ratio reduced

China's central bank took half a percentage point off the reserve requirement ratio, which governs how much money banks can lend to the economy. The move runs counter to the professed desire of Beijing leaders to restrict a property bubble that only a couple of years ago looked like wrecking the economy. As in the west, China has found that investment funds are increasingly channelled into property.

Currency devaluation