BEIJING - China has granted a 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) investment quota to Thailand under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) pilot program, China's central bank said Thursday.

The decision, part of deepening financial cooperation between the two countries, will offer diversified investment products for Thailand's investors, facilitate bilateral trade and investment while pushing China's capital market to open wider, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website.

The RQFII mechanism, which was launched in December 2011 to widen investment channels for overseas yuan funds on the Chinese mainland, allows qualified investors to invest yuan-based funds in the mainland securities market within a permitted quota.

Thursday's announcement would make the total RQFII quota China has granted more than 1.1 trillion yuan.