BEIJING, Dec. 29 -- China will step up the implementation of the monetary policies that it has put in place, the central bank said at a meeting on Thursday.

Policies will be implemented further to maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity, guide reasonable credit growth and a balanced credit supply, and keep the scale of social financing and money supply in line with the expected targets for economic growth and price levels, the People's Bank of China said.

China's economy is picking up, gaining momentum and making solid progress in its high-quality development, but it continues to face challenges such as insufficient effective demand and weak social expectations.

Efforts should be made to implement a prudent monetary policy accurately and effectively, pay more attention to counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, make better use of both the aggregate and structural functions of monetary policy tools, strive to expand domestic demand, boost confidence, and promote a virtuous economic cycle, the central bank said.

It will improve the market-oriented interest rate formation and transmission mechanism, and push for further declines in the financing costs of businesses and the credit costs of residents, according to the meeting.

It will continue to increase support for areas such as inclusive financing, green transformation, scientific and technological innovation, the digital economy and infrastructure construction.

The meeting stressed the importance of implementing differentiated housing credit policies precisely, meeting the people's needs for basic housing and better conditions in an improved manner, satisfying the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises with various ownership structures without discrimination, and promoting the sound development of the real estate sector.