Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec. 4, 2015. [Photo: Xinhua]

Chinese authorities are adding another international currency into the basket that it trades against.

Starting on Monday, the South African rand will become the 13th foreign currency to trade directly against the reminbin on the Chinese inter-bank foreign exchange market.

A statement from the China Foreign Exchange Trading System says the move will lower exchange-rate costs, as well as facilitate use of the two currencies in trade settlement, which could help increase bilateral investment.

In taking steps to try to internationalize the renminbi, the government has been allowing the value of the Chinese currency to be dictated - in part - by its value against other international currencies.

The addition of the South African rand is unlikely to have much impact on the overall value of the renminbi.

However, it could help foster increased trade and investment, which hit over 40-billion US dollars between China and South Africa last year.