BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to expand cross-border use of its currency Renminbi yuan this year, according to the central bank.

The global use of the Chinese yuan is one highlight of China's financial reforms over about a decade, Pan Gongsheng, deputy head of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said at a meeting Monday.

Pan said China would gradually make the RMB capital account convertible, consolidate market-oriented interest rate reform and improve macro prudential regulation.

In 2018, The central bank will "continue optimizing policies on cross-border RMB use, improving the infrastructure for the global use of RMB, meeting the reasonable demands of market entities and pushing the global use of RMB to a new level," said a statement released after the meeting.