The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, plans to expand the pilot program of RMB settlement in cross-border trade to the whole country this year, Li Bo, director of the Monetary Policy Bureau at PBOC, said at a forum in Shanghai Thursday, Shanghai Securities News reported.

At the same time, the central bank is studying how to push forward the opening up of several other capital projects, Li added.

Related readings:  PBOC to expand cross-border RMB settlement plan  Cross-border renminbi trade increases in 2010  Yuan settlement to be expanded in mainland  Yuan-based trade settlement volume increases

The pilot program is now being carried out in 20 provincial regions, and 11 are still waiting to start business. Li said the Chinese government plans to expand the program to the whole country in two months, after the last two provinces submit their applications, the report said.

Li disclosed that cross-border renminbi transactions totaled 500 billion yuan ($76.88 billion) in 2010, accounting for 2 percent of the total import and export trade volume. He said cross-border renminbi transactions already reached 530 billion yuan in the first four months of this year. A total of more than 6,700 enterprises in 20 provincial regions have joined the pilot program.