Dec. 15 – The Monetary Authority of Macau and the People’s Bank of China have signed a deal  for a cross-border trade renminbi settlement program that will increase the amount of renminbi Macau residents can buy.

Macau residents will now be able to purchase up to RMB20,000 per transaction compared to RMB14,000 previously. The agreement also makes it easier for Macau residents to settle business in Guangdong Province by allowing renminbi cheques of as high as RMB50,000 per account per diem to pay for consumer purchases reports Shanghai Daily.

It is possible to pay retail and catering services in Macau directly in renminbi. With the new agreement, the PBOC will allow telecommunications, education and exhibition and convention services, to have renminbi exchanged for pataca from Macau banks. “The signing of the deal will further promote the cross-border trade settlement in yuan,” the Monetary Authority of Macao said in a statement.

China is slowly encouraging renminbi use through settlement agreements for cross-border trade transactions in Hong Kong and five other mainland cities.