China’s central bank is taking small steps to support the economy

SINGAPORE — China’s central bank eased a key restriction on bank lending while leaving interest rates unchanged, moves economists said will do little to spur growth in an economy grappling with the worst Covid-19 outbreak on record struggling with the pandemic.

The limited effort implies large-scale monetary stimulus, the likes of which may not be repeated in 2020 at the start of the pandemic and after the 2008-09 financial crisis this year, economists said, placing the onus on the government to prop up faltering growth with big spending increases.