File photo shows the headquarters of the People's Bank of China in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)
BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank said Tuesday that it pumped cash into the money market in February to meet the liquidity demand from financial institutions.
A total of 300 billion yuan (about 47.6 billion U.S. dollars) was injected into the market via the medium-term lending facility (MLF) last month to maintain liquidity in the banking system at a reasonably sufficient level, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).
The funds will mature in one year at an interest rate of 2.85 percent.
Total outstanding MLF loans reached 4.85 trillion yuan as of the end of February.
The MLF tool was introduced in 2014 to help commercial and policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing them to borrow from the central bank using securities as collateral.
Another 2.71 billion yuan was lent to financial institutions in February through the standing lending facility to meet their provisional liquidity demand, the PBOC said. ■
