Cross-border yuan settlement hit 1.6 trillion yuan ($251 billion) by the end of July since the program's launch in July 2009, Xinhua reported, citing Ma Delun, vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

The PBOC, China's central bank, just expanded the yuan settlement to the whole nation from the previous 20 regions last Tuesday.

Despite government efforts, cross-border yuan settlements last year, which totaled about 500 billion yuan, acounted for about 2 percent of China's total foreign trade.

By Sun Yuanqing