BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- China's securities regulator has allowed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to access the country's capital market via the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said it made the decision after receiving an application from the IMF.

In an online announcement, the CSRC said it required the IMF to follow the rules and fulfill its duties.

The RQFII mechanism was launched in 2011 to widen investment channels for overseas yuan funds on the Chinese mainland, allowing those that qualify to invest in China's securities market within a permitted quota. It aims partly to increase the international use of the RMB.

As of Feb. 27, the RQFII quota came in at 660.47 billion yuan (about 98.4 billion U.S. dollars), according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.