BEIJING - The central bank said Thursday that it had pumped 301 billion yuan (about $44.7 billion) into the financial system in open market operations via medium-term lending facility (MLF).

The MLF tool was first introduced in 2014 to help commercial and policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing them to borrow from the central bank by using securities as collateral.

The fresh funds were injected into 18 financial institutions, according to the People's Bank of China.

Interest rates for MLF loans were unchanged at 2.85 percent for the 217-billion-yuan six-month loans, and 3 percent for the 84-billion-yuan one-year loans.

At a press conference Monday, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China Fan Yifei said the central bank will maintain a prudent monetary policy with timely fine-tuning to create a favorable environment for debt reduction.