The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced on Wednesday that it would further expand trial cross-border yuan trade settlements across the country this year.
The market demand for yuan cross-border use is expected to climb, along with the increasingly close integration between China and the global economy, according to Xinhua news.
China has been expanding pilot programs for cross-border trade yuan settlement since last year. The PBOC has expanded the trial scheme to 20 provincial regions so far.
China expanded its cross-border yuan trade settlement to about 67,000 exporters at the end of last year, from the original 365 firms. Chinese banks handled 506.3 billion yuan (USD$8.57 billion) of cross-border trade settlements last year. -- Source: Xinhua.net