China's central bank on Friday pumped cash into the banking system via reverse repos to maintain liquidity.
The People's Bank of China injected a total of 180 billion yuan (about 25.4 billion U.S. dollars) into the market, including 70 billion yuan through seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.2 percent and 110 billion yuan of 14-day contract at an interest rate of 2.35 percent, according to a statement on the website of the central bank.
The headquarters of the People's Bank of China in Beijing. /VCG
The move is intended to maintain stable liquidity in the banking system, the central bank said.
As 100 billion yuan of reverse repos and 240 billion yuan of medium-term lending facility (MLF) matured Friday, the operation led to a net withdrawal of 160 billion yuan from the market.
A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.
China will pursue a prudent monetary policy in a more flexible and appropriate way, according to this year's government work report.
The country will use a variety of tools including required reserve ratio reductions, interest rate cuts, and re-lending to enable M2 money supply and aggregate financing to grow at notably higher rates than last year, said the report.