BEIJING -- China's central bank continued to pump cash into the banking system via reverse repos Thursday.

With no reverse repos maturing Thursday, the People's Bank of China injected a total of 50 billion yuan (about $7.2 billion) into the market through seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.2 percent, according to a statement on the website of the central bank.

The injection is intended to maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the banking system, the central bank said.

A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

China will pursue a prudent monetary policy in a more flexible and appropriate way, according to this year's government work report.

The country will use a variety of tools including required reserve ratio reductions, interest rate cuts, and re-lending to enable M2 money supply and aggregate financing to grow at notably higher rates than last year, said the report.