China will write off Zimbabwe’s 40 million U.S. dollars of debts, according to Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwean Minister of Finance. Zimbabwe’s central bank and the People’s Bank of China has reached an agreement, according to which, the use of the Chinese yuan will be expanded in Zimbabwe’s multi-currency economy just like the U.S. dollar as of 2016.

According to Chinamasa, Zimbabwe will officially make yuan legal tender since it seeks to increase trade with Beijing after China writes off its debts. Use of the yuan “will be a function of trade between China and Zimbabwe and acceptability with customers in Zimbabwe,” said the minister. Chief of Zimbabwe’s central bank John Mangudya is currently in communication with the People’s Bank of China to see how to expand the usage of the yuan in the country.

Zimbabwe abandoned its own dollar in 2009 after hyperinflation. It then began to use a slew of foreign currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the South African rand.

China is the second biggest trade partner of Zimbabwe. The yearly bilateral trade volume is over 1 billion U.S. dollars. In early December, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Zimbabwe and signed a great deal of agreements in economy and high technology with the President of Zimbabwe. China now is the biggest trade partner of Africa. According to statistics, the trade volume between China and Africa has increased 20 times in the past 15 years, amounting to 200 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.