China's central bank injects 100b yuan into market

BEIJING -- China's central bank on Sunday pumped cash into the banking system via reverse repos to maintain liquidity.

The People's Bank of China injected 100 billion yuan ($14.17 billion) into the market through seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.2 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 120 billion yuan of reverse repos matured Sunday, the operation led to a net withdrawal of 20 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.