(Yicai Global) Oct. 13  -- China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), boosted the amount of  Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) this month and halted reverse repos today.

PBOC lent CNY498 billion (USD75.45 billion) to several Chinese banks via MLF with one-year maturity today. The bid rate is set at 3.2 percent, unchanged from the last operation.

A total of CNY439.5 billion of MLF loans will mature in October, including CNY84 billion of MLF matured today. In other words, PBOC has so far injected CNY58.5 billion into the interbank market by increasing the amount of MLF this month.

PBOC has conducted CNY80 billion reverse repos this week, but offset by CNY 300 billion revese repos matured. 

To sum up, PBOC withdrew CNY 161.5 billion from financial system via open market operations this week.

The MLF loans is one of the several tools the PBOC employs to manage monetary policy and lending. It has been introduced to provide selected banks with funds as authorities have stepped up efforts to support lending to selective sectors of the economy rather than adding liquidity to the overall financial system.

In the interbank market today, The overnight "Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate" (SHIBOR) retain downward 5.20 basis points to 2.6050 percent. The one-week term rate decreased 3.44 basis points to 2.8516 percent. The Shibor for three-month loans slightly edged up 0.18 basis points to 4.3599 percent.