PBOC continues prudent monetary policy

BEIJING - China's central bank said on Friday that it will continue to implement a prudent monetary police, balancing the needs for economic controls against the need for liberalization.

After the quarterly meeting of China's monetary policy committee, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said the complexity of China's current economic and financial operations should not be underestimated.

In applying the monetary policy, the central bank will use multiple monetary policy tools in a flexible manner and maintain moderate liquidity to ensure monetary credit and social financing maintain reasonable growth.

The PBOC also said it will work to improve the structure of financing and credit, increase the proportion of direct financing, and reduce the cost of social financing.

Financial reform is high on the central bank agenda. It should be deepened so as to boost the efficiency of financial operations and the capability of serving the real economy, it said.

The monetary policy committee also called for continued market-oriented interest rate reform, and the renminbi's exchange rate reform to keep the rate at a reasonable equilibrium.

The policies were set in the context of the U.S. economy showing more positive signs, but the euro zone still being faced with deflationary risks, while the real economies of some emerging markets are confronted with an array of difficulties.

The quarterly meeting was chaired by PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan, and attended by 10 other senior financial officials or economists.