The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has lent a total of 339 billion yuan (49.2 billion U.S. dollars) to 24 financial institutions through its medium-term lending facility (MLF) to ensure reasonable and ample liquidity in the banking system, China’s Central Bank said via its official microblogging Weibo account.

The lending comes at a time when previous MLF loans have matured. Six-month MLF loans totaling 11.5 billion yuan (1.6 billion U.S dollars) matures today.

Under the new lending terms, 151 billion yuan (21.9 U.S. dollars) will mature in six months and 188 billion yuan (27.2 billion U.S. dollars) will mature in one year, with interest rates remaining the same as those of the last MLF loans, at 2.85 percent and 3.0 percent respectively.