(ECNS) -- The cross-border settlement of Chinese yuan, or RMB, of enterprises in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region registered a new high to 52.8 billion yuan (about $7.23 billion) in 2023, a year-on-year growth of 13.3 percent, said Xu Ke, vice governor at Xinjiang branch of People's Bank of China during a press conference on Monday.

A total of 1,102 enterprises in Xinjiang handled the cross-border RMB receipts and payment business in 2023, an increase of 312 compared to 2022, according to the data.

Actual cross-border RMB settlements of bulk commodity trade and petty trade increased by 20 percent and 51 percent respectively in Xinjiang in 2023. Cross-border RMB settlement with 10 adjacent countries was up 55 percent year-on-year. RMB usage in cross-border trade with Russia and Mongolia accounts for more than 90 percent, becoming the preferred payment currency. 

Pilot enterprises' cross-border RMB settlement stood at 15.7 billion yuan in 2023, accounting for 30 percent of the total in Xinjiang.