China's central bank injects 180b yuan into market Friday

BEIJING - 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 ($25.4 billion) 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 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.