BEIJING -- China's central bank announced Wednesday that it will cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 0.5 percentage points for financial institutions from May 15.

The move is expected to provide about 1 trillion yuan (about 138.9 billion U.S. dollars) in long-term liquidity, according to Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China.

Financial institutions that have already implemented a 5-percent RRR will be exempt from the upcoming reduction, and the RRR for auto financing and financial leasing companies will be cut by 5 percentage points, the central bank said in a statement.