BEIJING:

The People's Bank of China moved to ease the economy further on Wednesday, saying it will inject 140 billion yuan ($21.80 billion) into the financial system through a short-term liquidity adjustment (SLO) operation.

The SLO loans come with a 2.3% interest rate. Short-term liquidity operations were launched by the PBOC in 2013 to reduce fluctuations in liquidity and stabilize interbank funding costs. Wednesday's move comes a day after the Chinese central bank cut its benchmark interest rates.