BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank injected funds into the monetary market on Thursday to maintain ample liquidity in the banking system.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 80 billion yuan (about 11.96 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.55 percent.

The move was aimed at offsetting the impact of factors such as peak tax period and keeping liquidity in the banking system at a reasonable and sufficient level, a PBOC statement said.

No reverse repos will mature on Thursday.

A reverse repo is a process by which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.