Outstanding MLF was reduced to 4.017 trillion yuan at the end of April compared with 4.917 trillion yuan a month earlier, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website.
The difference in the outstanding MLFs, with a total value of 900 billion yuan, came from released liquidity after a reduction in banks' reserve requirements (RRR).
The PBOC said its reduced requirements for bank reserves, which came into effect on April 25, released a total of almost 1.3 trillion yuan, out of which 900 billion yuan had been used by the banks to repay their respective outstanding MLF, according to the statement.
It added that 156 billion yuan in outstanding MLF loans will be due this month.
The PBOC did not inject any fresh funds via the liquidity tool in April as same amount of MLF loans was expiring, according to Reuters calculations based on official data.
The People's Bank of China uses the MLF and the standing lending facility as tools for managing short- and medium-term liquidity in the country's banking system.