(Yicai Global) Feb. 15 -- China’s central bank has left the rate of its one-year medium-term lending facility unchanged, injecting CNY300 billion (USD47.2 billion) of liquidity into the interbank system to underpin economic growth.

The rate remains the same as last month at 2.85 percent, the People’s Bank of China said today. It has increased the one-year MLF allocation by CNY100 billion as CNY200 million worth is due to mature later this week.

The central bank did not alter the MLF rate after last month’s slew of rate cuts delivered promising results, Zhou Maohua, macroeconomic analyst at China Everbright Bank, told Yicai Global. The benchmark loan prime rate is also expected to stay the same as last month as the PBOC keeps monetary policy stable in the short term, he added.

Another CNY10 billion in seven-day reverse repos was also released today to offset the CNY20 billion due today. The rate stayed the same at 2.1 percent. The central bank has recovered CNY1.02 trillion (USD160.6 billion) from reverse repos since Feb. 7, indicating abundant market liquidity.

The central bank has increased medium- and long-term capital injections to encourage financial institutions to strengthen support for the real economy, Zhou said. The government is actively stabilizing growth to cope with uncertainties in the global economy.

Last month, the PBOC cut rates on a series of lending instruments as part of a new round of monetary easing to support a slowing economy. The one-year MLF and the seven-day reverse repo were lowered by 10 basis points on Jan. 17. The one-year and five-year benchmark loan prime rates were slashed by 10 bps and five bps respectively on Jan. 20.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor