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.

(Cover: Hong Kong. /VCG)