China cbank renews currency swap with HKMA, expanding size to 500 bln yuan

SHANGHAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - China's central bank said on Wednesday that it has renewed a bilateral currency swap facility with Hong Kong and expanded the size to 500 billion yuan ($76 billion) from 400 billion yuan.

The agreement was signed by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. And the renewal would be for a period of five years, according to a statement posted on the PBOC website.

The PBOC said the renewal would help maintain financial stability, facilitate trade and investment, and promote the development of Hong Kong's offshore yuan market. ($1 = 6.5786 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by the Beijing Monitoring Desk and Winni Zhou; Editing by Toby Chopra)