The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, announced Wednesday that it will conduct a 1.1-trillion-yuan ($ 157 billion) outright reverse repo operation on Thursday to maintain ample liquidity in the banking system. 

The operation will be carried out with a fixed quantity through interest-rate bidding, with winning bids determined at multiple price levels and a maturity period of three months. 

As 1.1 trillion yuan of three-month outright reverse repos are set to mature in January, the latest move represents a rollover of the same amount. 

Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Golden Credit Rating, believes that the move indicates a continuation of supportive monetary policy, which facilitates government bond issuance at the beginning of the year and helps financial institutions maintain the intensity of monetary and credit supply. 

Outright reverse repo operations -- a tool the central bank introduced in October 2024 to manage liquidity in the national banking system -- are carried out each month with a tenor of no more than one year. 

These operations have enriched the country's monetary policy toolkit, complementing previous measures such as temporary repos, temporary reverse repos, and the buying and selling of treasury bonds.