BEIJING - China will continue to increase the use of its currency renminbi in cross-border trade and investment this year, says a government work report to be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the annual session of the national legislature on Saturday.

The country will "press ahead with making the RMB convertible under capital accounts" this year, says the report.

The actions are expected to bolster the yuan's role on international markets.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said Wednesday that it will expand the trial program allowing the use of yuan settlement for cross-border transactions to the entire country this year from the current 20 provincial regions as there is growing market demand for the business.

The total value of trade settled in the yuan rocketed to 506.3 billion yuan ($77.1 billion) in 2010, according to the central bank.

In other moves to give the yuan a bigger role, China has inked eight bilateral currency deals worth a total of 803.5 billion yuan since the end of 2008.