SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s central bank has made its biggest weekly cash withdrawal on record through a short-term bond instrument, as cash conditions loosened at the start of the year.
The People’s Bank of China in a statement said it injected 2 billion yuan ($290.70 million) into the banking system through seven-day reverse repurchase agreements in open market operations on Friday.
It said the operation was meant to keep “banking system liquidity reasonably ample.”
With 386 billion yuan worth of reverse repos maturing on Friday, the bank drained a net 384 billion yuan on the day. That took the weekly net cash withdrawal to a record 1.601 trillion yuan.
($1 = 6.8800 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Brenda Goh; Editing by Christopher Cushing)