BEIJING, Aug. 15 -- China's central bank conducted 577.7 billion yuan (about 80.91 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.7 percent Thursday.

The move aims to offset the impact of medium-term lending facility (MLF) expiration, tax payment peak and government bond issuance, as well as to keep liquidity reasonable and ample 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.

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