The renminbi has become the largest cross-border settlement currency for South China's Guangdong province, a major exporting province that contributed nearly one-fifth of the country's total foreign trade value last year, according to official data published on Friday.

In the first quarter of the year, Guangdong registered 1.67 trillion yuan ($243.7 billion) worth of cross-border settlements in the renminbi, which surpassed other currencies for the first time and made the renminbi the province's largest settlement currency, the Guangzhou branch of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said on Friday.

Renminbi settlements accounted for 51.6 percent of Guangdong province's total settlement value in local and foreign currencies in the first quarter, up 7.2 percentage points compared with the end of last year.

Specifically, Guangdong province's cross-border renminbi settlement value for trade in goods came in at 450.12 billion yuan in the first quarter, up 11.1 percent year-on-year, while that for direct investment stood at 413.71 billion yuan, up 39.7 percent year-on-year.