BEIJING, May 4 -- China's central bank pumped cash into the money market in April to meet liquidity demand from financial institutions.

A total of 170 billion yuan (about 24.62 billion U.S. dollars) was injected into the market via the medium-term lending facility (MLF) last month to maintain liquidity in the banking system at a reasonably sufficient level, according to the People's Bank of China.

The funds will mature in one year at an interest rate of 2.75 percent.

Total outstanding MLF loans reached nearly 5.13 trillion yuan at the end of April.

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.

Another 240 million yuan was lent to financial institutions through the standing lending facility to meet provisional liquidity demand.