GUANGZHOU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The cross-border RMB settlement in Guangdong reached 20 trillion yuan (2.85 trillion U.S. dollars) over the past 10 years ending in October, according to the Guangzhou branch of the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Guangdong contributed to 22 percent of the country's cross-border RMB business volume, making RMB the second-largest cross-border payment currency in the province for eight consecutive years, it said.

In July 2009, China approved a pilot program for cross-border trade settlement in RMB, embarking on the internationalization process of the Chinese currency.

The cross-border RMB settlement in Guangdong surged to 3.2 trillion yuan in 2018 from 1.5 billion yuan in 2009. More than 90,000 companies, or over 80 percent of all foreign-oriented businesses in Guangdong, have enjoyed the RMB settlement service.

The PBOC branch said it encourages businesses to conduct cross-border RMB settlement to reduce risks from bigger exchange rate fluctuations.

In the January-October period, Guangdong's cross-border RMB settlement in goods and services trade reached 1.5 trillion yuan. The figure accounted for 25 percent of all cross-border local and foreign currency settlements in Guangdong, an increase by 5.1 percentage points from 2018.