On December 29, 2017, China's central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), announced that it is setting up a temporary liquidity facility that will allow some large Chinese commercial banks to have more funds available ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday which begins this year on February 16, Accordingly, large state-owned commercial banks will be able to withdraw up to two percent of their deposit reserves for up to 30 days to meet their temporary liquidity requirements ahead of the holiday period.
Currently, the reserve requirement ratio for China's large commercial banks stands at 16.5 percent, while the reserve requirement ratio for medium-sized and small financial institutions is 13.0 percent. It is estimated that the move by the central bank will release around RMB 1.5 trillion ($0.23 trillion) to the economy.