China central bank injects $124.9 bln in Dec, up 13 percent from Nov

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank injected a total of 868.75 billion yuan ($124.90 billion) via short- and medium-term liquidity tools in December, its data showed on Tuesday, as it continues to support credit expansion and the economy.

December liquidity injections were up 13.2 percent from November, according to Reuters' calculations based on central bank data.

The People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website that it lent 733 billion yuan to financial institutions via its medium-term lending facility (MLF) in December.

The bank lent 358 billion yuan for six months and 375 billion yuan for one year.

Outstanding MLF was 3.457 trillion yuan at the end of December compared with 2.736 trillion yuan at the end of November, implying a net injection of 721.5 billion yuan.

The PBOC said it also extended 135.75 billion yuan of loans to local financial institutions in December via its standing lending facility (SLF).

The total outstanding amount of SLF loans was 129.01 billion yuan at the end of December, compared with 27.81 billion yuan at the end of November, implying a net injection of 101.2 billion yuan.

The People's Bank of China uses the SLF and the medium-term lending facility as tools for managing short- and medium-term liquidity in the country's banking system.

China's pledged supplementary lending (PSL) facility stood at 2.053 trillion yuan at the end of December, compared with 2.011 trillion yuan at the end of November, the central bank said.

The PSL programme, initiated in 2014, is designed to help the central bank better target medium-term lending rates while boosting liquidity to specific sectors by offering low-cost loans to selected banks.

($1 = 6.9555 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by China monitoring desk and Kevin Yao)