China's central bank to maintain credit growth

The People's Bank of China will continue to maintain a "prudent" monetary policy in 2015 while fine-tuning the policy when necessary, the regulator said in an online statement on Friday.

The central bank said it will "ensure sufficient liquidity in the banking system and maintain stable and appropriate credit growth this year by using various combinations of monetary policy tools flexibly", according to the statement, which summarized the central bank's two-day annual work conference held in Beijing. Governor Zhou Xiaochuan made a keynote speech and Deputy Governor Hu Xiaolian chaired the meeting.

The bank will continue to use targeted regulation measures to increase credit support for key areas and weak links of the economy. Meanwhile, it will accelerate market-orient-ed interest rate reform and push forward with increasing yuan convertibility in the capital account while taking steps to prevent regional and systemic risks in the financial sector.