The central bank announced on Feb 29 that it will lower its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for commercial banks by 0.5 percentage points, effective on March 1, the latest effort to bolster growth.

The move, the first such cut this year, aims to “ensure reasonably ample liquidity in the financial system; guide a stable and appropriate growth in credit; and create a favorable financial environment for supply-side structural reform,” the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website.

To boost economic growth, which in 2015 slowed to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, the central bank lowered the RRR five times last year.