The People's Bank of China, China's central bank says China will vigorously promote the opening-up of its financial market this year to attract wider use of the yuan globally.
According to the bank, China has signed settlement agreements involving a total of 1.6 trillion yuan with 18 countries and regions by the end of 2012.
Cross-border trade settlement in the yuan rose 41 percent to almost 3 trillion yuan, while investment settled in the currency rose by 153 percent to more than 280 billion yuan in 2012.
Outbound direct investment in the yuan went up by 45 percent from 2011, while yuan-denominated foreign direct investment also surged by 177 percent.
The bank this year will further expand its two local currency investment schemes, RQFII and QFII.
It is also drafting plans for a trial program to allow qualified domestic individual investors to trade in overseas capital markets directly.