BEIJING — China's central bank on April 14 conducted 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) of reverse repos to maintain liquidity in the banking system.

The interest rate for the seven-day reverse repos was set at 2.1 percent, according to the People's Bank of China.

The move aims to keep liquidity in the banking system reasonably stable, 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.

On April 13, Premier Li Keqiang underscored at a State Council executive meeting that financial support to the real economy should be stepped up to drive down market entities' financing costs.

The meeting also decided to use monetary policy tools like reserve requirement ratio cuts at an appropriate time to increase the credit input capacity of banks, strengthening financial support to virus-hit sectors, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed individuals.