SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s central bank injected funds through medium-term loans into the financial system on Tuesday, while keeping the interest rate unchanged.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it was keeping the rate on 300 billion yuan ($47.19 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to some financial institutions steady at 2.85%, as widely expected.
The 300 billion yuan injection exceeds the 200 billion in such loans maturing this week.
In January, the PBOC unexpectedly cut the one-year MLF rate 10 basis points to 2.85% from 2.95% previously, alongside a 10 basis-point cut in the seven-day reverse repurchase agreement rate.
The central bank also injected 10 billion yuan worth of seven-day reverse repos into the banking system, against 20 billion yuan in such loans maturing Tuesday.
($1 = 6.3567 Chinese yuan)