SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's central bank skipped its targeted medium-term lending facility (TMLF) operations for the first time since their debut in January.
The People's Bank of China said it has skipped open market operations for a fourth straight session on Thursday, citing "reasonably ample" liquidity condition in the banking system.
TMLF, a liquidity tool introduced by the central bank in December 2018 and started using in January, is targeted at directly funding parts of the economy that are still struggling. It differs to other more sweeping system-wide cash infusions used over the past year when there were worries of a sharper slowdown.
Sun Guofeng, head of the PBOC's monetary policy division, said the central bank would follow a pattern of conducting TMLF operations in the fourth week of the first month of every quarter.