Citing global economic weakness and financial market turmoil, the Federal Reserve agreed Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero despite the rapidly improving U.S. labor market.

But Fed policymakers' forecast indicates they still expect to bump up the federal funds rate this year for the first time in nearly a decade, with meetings scheduled for October and December. Their projections, however, show they expect to raise it even more gradually over the long-term than they previously signaled.

BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank on Friday authorized the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to clear renminbi business in Argentina.

It will facilitate the use of yuan in cross-border transactions between the two nations and boost bilateral trade and investment, the PBOC said.

China is Argentina's second-biggest trade partner, its biggest destination of farm produce exports and its third-biggest source of investment. The two countries inked a 70-billion-yuan (11 billion U.S. dollars) currency swap deal in July 2014.

The ICBC has now been authorized for yuan clearing business in six foreign countries.

China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, designed as an "expressway" to facilitate the yuan's use in international trade and investment, began operations in Shanghai on Thursday.