China's central bank to conduct 500-billion-yuan outright reverse repo operation

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, on Thursday said that it will conduct a 500-billion-yuan (about 70 billion U.S. dollars) outright reverse repo operation on Friday, with the aim of maintaining ample liquidity in China's banking system.

The operation will have a tenor of six months (182 days) and will be conducted using a fixed-quantity, interest-rate-bidding and multiple-price-bidding method, according to the PBOC statement.

Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Golden Credit Rating, said the operation will help inject medium-term liquidity into the market, signaling the continued strengthening of quantitative monetary policy tools.

Outright reverse repo operations -- a tool the central bank introduced in October 2024 to manage liquidity in the national banking system -- are carried out once each month with a tenor of no more than one year.

These operations have enriched the country's monetary policy toolkit following its earlier introductions of temporary repos, temporary reverse repos, and the buying and selling of treasury bonds. ■