BEIJING -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, announced Wednesday that it has signed supplementary currency swap agreements with the Bank of Mongolia, doubling the scale of a 2011 bilateral swap deal.

The supplementary currency swap agreement allows the two central banks to swap 10 billion yuan/2 trillion togrog (about $1.6 billion), compared to 5 billion yuan/1 trillion togrog agreed in 2011, the PBOC said in a statement on its website.

Both sides believe the extension will help maintain regional financial stability and facilitate bilateral trade and investment between China and Mongolia, according to the PBOC statement.

Since the onset of the global financial crisis in late 2008, China has signed currency swap agreements totaling 1.3 trillion yuan with 16 countries and regions, including the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Belarus and Argentina, to reduce the use of the US dollar in bilateral trade settlement and investment.