Central bank pledges to keep prudent monetary policy

BEIJING - China will maintain a prudent monetary policy, and be flexible to ward off systemic financial risk, the country's central bank reiterated on Friday.

Downward pressure still exists in Chinese economy on the backdrop of ongoing structural reform, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in its Q1 monetary policy implementation report.

The report said PBOC policy had helped keep liquidity at a reasonable level and interest rates stable.

Global growth is still weak and there are many uncertainties ahead, the central bank warned.

In addition, the report said China's regulation on bank deposit insurance runs smoothly. The regulation, effective from May 1 last year, stipulates that customers would be entitled up to 500,000 yuan ($76,680) should their bank suffer insolvency or bankruptcy.

The reimbursement limit applies to 99.63 percent of Chinese depositors, and both RMB deposits and foreign currency deposits from individuals as well as companies are covered, according to the regulation.