Reuters reports that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) extended a currency swap agreement with its Chinese counterpart earlier this year even as mounting trade tensions deadlocked talks between the countries' governments.
RBA extended the deal with the People's Bank of China back in July, though the first official mention of it came in the RBA's annual report released last week. The previous deal expired in April.
The five-year agreement allows for the exchange of local currencies between the two central banks of up to A$41 billion ($30.60 billion) or CNY 200 billion.
The RBA has similar deals with Japan and Korea, allowing the central banks to support trade settlement in local currencies in times of market stress or financial instability.