BEIJING - China's central bank said Sunday it welcomes and supports the inclusion of Chinese bond market into major international indices.

The statement followed earlier announcement by Bloomberg to incorporate China's bond market into two of its widely used Bloomberg Barclays fixed-income indices to be launched on March 1.

The move can "better reflect the overall situation of the global bond market and help global investors allocate their bond assets more reasonably," the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said.

The central bank will improve policies to create a more friendly and convenient environment for overseas investors, said PBOC deputy governor Pan Gongsheng.

China is home to the world's third largest bond market, with outstanding bonds hitting 63.7 trillion yuan ($9.3 trillion) at the end of 2016.

Authorities have opened up the bond market further, supporting overseas institutions to issue bonds in China, Pan said.

Meanwhile, the central bank has actively introduced overseas investment into the Chinese market, simplifying administrative procedures and canceling investment quotas, with basically no restrictions on relevant fund transfers, he noted.

So far, international institutions and companies as well as foreign governments have issued a total of 68.7 billion yuan of bonds denominated in yuan or special drawing rights, PBOC data show.

In total, 432 overseas investors have invested nearly 800 billion yuan into the Chinese bond market, according to the data.