Recently, according to data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the proportion of RMB transactions rose to 4 in November61%, compared to 237%, and the global transaction usage ranking also rose to 4th.
Specific data show that in November, the proportion of RMB in global payments increased from 3 in October6% to 461%, more than the share of the yen, which fell from 391% slipped to 341%。This is the first time since January 2022 that the renminbi has surpassed the yen to become the world's fourth-most commonly used payment currency after the US dollar, the euro and the British pound.
Source: Sina Finance.
Chi Lo, senior strategist for Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas Asset Management, commented that there have been a series of positive developments in favour of the international use of the renminbi this year, and the SWIFT data for November "may even be the beginning of a slow upward trend in the share of the renminbi".
The scale and proportion of RMB foreign exchange reserves have grown steadily.
The size and proportion of the renminbi as the global foreign exchange reserve currency have increased steadily. Up to now, more than 70 foreign central bank institutions have entered China's interbank bond market, and the monetary authorities of more than 75 countries and regions have included the renminbi in their foreign exchange reserves. As of the first quarter of 2021, the size of the renminbi's foreign exchange reserves of global central banks and monetary authorities was US$287.5 billion, accounting for 25%, an increase of 1 compared to 2016, when I joined SDR4 percentage points.
The development trend of RMB internationalization is clear.
In general, China has gradually promoted the internationalization of the renminbi in accordance with the three-step path of "periphery, regionalization, and internationalization". Under the premise that China's capital account is not open and inconvertible, the internationalization of RMB started from bilateral settlement, and the process of RMB peripheralization is still deepening. So far, the renminbi has initially met the basic conditions for the Asianization of the renminbi. For a long period of time in the future, the internationalization of the renminbi will advance in the direction of forming a new international monetary system with a "three-legged support", and the stability and effectiveness of the global financial market will be strengthened.
The RCEP was signed for the internationalization of the RMB.
Provide a broad market and application scenarios.
The signing of RCEP has increased more real demand for the use of RMB in scenarios such as cross-border e-commerce, foreign aid and construction, investment in financial services and small and medium-sized enterprises, which can further play the international settlement and financial transaction functions of RMB, provide a broader market for the use of RMB, and add new impetus to the internationalization of RMB.
The relevant person in charge of the Macroprudential Management Bureau of the People's Bank of China said that the internationalization of RMB should follow the trend, continue to adhere to the principle of market-driven, mutual benefit and win-win, pay more attention to improving quality and level, focus on investment facilitation, continuously optimize basic institutional arrangements such as cross-border RMB investment and financing, transaction settlement, etc., enhance the ability of cross-border RMB business to serve the real economy and promote high-quality development, provide diversified currency choices for economic entities, and solidly promote the international use of RMB. At the same time, we will continue to seek progress while maintaining stability, continuously improve regulatory capabilities and risk prevention under open conditions, build a solid "breakwater", and ensure that the internationalization of the RMB is steadily advancing on the premise of maintaining the bottom line of safety.
*: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.
Editor: Xiaoya.