170 bln yuan of reverse repo contracts to mature in coming week

BEIJING -- A total of 170 billion yuan (about $24.7 billion) of reverse repos are set to mature in the coming week, data from information service provider Wind showed.

Over the past week, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, net injected 189 billion yuan to the money market through tools including reverse repos and the medium-term lending facility (MLF).

A reverse repo is a process by which the central bank bids and buys securities from commercial banks, with an agreement to sell them back in the future. The MLF tool was introduced in 2014 to allow commercial and policy banks to borrow from the central bank using securities as collateral.

The country has vowed to maintain control over the monetary supply and keep liquidity at a reasonable level, according to a statement issued after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee last month.

The PBOC increasingly relies on open-market operations, rather than changes in interest rates or reserve requirement ratios, to manage liquidity in a more flexible and targeted manner.

China will maintain a prudent and neutral monetary policy in 2018 as it strives to balance growth and risk prevention.