BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank cut the interest rate of targeted medium-term lending facility (TMLF) to 2.95 percent on Friday, 20 basis points lower than the previous TMLF.

Photo: CGTN

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) renewed 267.4 billion yuan (37.8 billion U.S. dollars) in TMLF operations that came due Friday to maintain liquidity, with the new operation of 56.1 billion yuan.

The TMLF tool was introduced in December 2018 to encourage loans to small and private businesses.

Large commercial banks, joint-stock banks and major city commercial banks that lend heavily to the real economy and meet macro prudent requirements can apply for the TMLF.

No reverse repo operations were conducted Friday, said the PBOC.