China's latest liquidity release of about 1 trillion yuan ($155 billion) is a "regular operation" as the monetary policies in the first half of the year have basically returned to pre-pandemic normal, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on Tuesday.

"As the country's economy remains stable and positive, the stance of the prudent monetary policy has not changed," said Sun Guofeng, head of the central bank's monetary policy department, at a briefing on the country's finance performance in the first half of the year.

From February to April last year, China adopted a more flexible monetary policy to cushion the impact of COVID-19. Since last May, the monetary policy has gradually returned to normal. In the first half of this year, the monetary policy basically returned to the pre-epidemic state, Sun said.

Going forward, China's monetary policy will prioritize stability and focus on domestic economic situations and price trends to support the real economy. The country will also pay attention to international economic and financial conditions to carry out international macro policy coordination, contributing to global economic recovery, Sun said.

Sun said, in the first half of the year, China's financial aggregates maintained moderate growth and the liquidity was abundant. China's new yuan-denominated loans totaled 12.76 trillion yuan ($1.97 trillion) during the first half of the year, up 667.7 billion yuan from the same period last year, PBOC data showed Friday. The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased by 8.6 percent year on year to 231.78 trillion yuan at the end of June.

As for the rise of the producer price index (PPI) recently, Sun said it is a result of a low base last year, and should be observed from overall perspective of last year, this year and next year.

Due to demand recovery, higher commodity and raw material prices, the country's PPI surged 9 percent in May, the highest since 2008. The PPI rose by 8.8 percent in June from a year earlier, which is in line with expectations.

The PPI is expected to maintain a high position in the second and third quarters, before falling back in the fourth quarter, said Sun.