SHANGHAI, Sept 25 Reuters China39;s central bank lowered the cost of its mediumterm loans to banks on Wednesday in a move consistent with broad policy easing measures announced a day earlier to shore up a flailing economy.

The People39;s Bank of China PBOC said it cut the rate on 300 billion yuan 42.66 billion worth of oneyear mediumterm lending facility MLF loans to some financial institutions to 2.00 from 2.30.

The bid rates in Wednesday39;s operation ranged from 1.90 to 2.30, and the total balance of MLF loans now stands at 6.878 trillion yuan, the central bank said in an online statement.

Financial News, a publication backed by the PBOC, said disclosing the bid rates for the first time showed differences in mid and longterm funding needs among various financial institutions, in line with the central bank39;s pledge to improve the transparency of monetary policy.

The MLF auction result was released ahead and separately from open market operations, the official newspaper noted, adding that it highlighted the difference from the sevenday reverse repo rate, which now serves as the main policy rate.

The move allowed MLF to return to its positioning as a mid to longterm liquidity tool, the newspaper said.

A batch of 591 billion yuan worth of MLF loans expired this month.

On Tuesday, Beijing unveiled its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to pull the economy out of its deflationary funk and back towards the government39;s growth target.

The partial rollover did not…