BEIJING
\nChina\u2019s national currency, Yuan, retained its position as the fourth most actively used currency for global transactions in January, according to data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT).
\nPayments using the Yuan soared to a record 3.2 percent of market share, breaking through its previous high set in 2015 and ranking behind the US dollar, the Euro, and the British pound.
\nThe dollar, which kept the top spot in January, saw a drop in market share, declining to about 39.9% from 40.5% recorded in December.
\nThe Euro lost ground as well but held onto the second spot. Meanwhile, the share of global payments in Yuan was up from the 2.7% posted in the previous month.
\nYuan transactions have reportedly soared over the past three months as international funds boosted holdings of Chinese government bonds, pushing their share to a record high. Moreover, Russian gas producer Gazprom Neft\u2019s announced plans to accept the Yuan rather than US dollars as payment for fuelling Russian airplanes at China\u2019s airports, also boosted the Chinese currency.
\nEarlier this week, head of the People\u2019s Bank of China, Yi Gang, urged emerging economies to promote using local currencies in trade, echoing a similar call from the Indonesian authorities to cut down reliance on the US dollar to mitigate the risks of the Federal Reserve stimulus withdrawal.
\nThe Chinese currency will emerge as one of the biggest beneficiaries as \u201ctrade between various Asian countries and China grows, and more of it is denominated in Yuan,\u201d according to Alvin T Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong, as cited by Bloomberg.
\nEarlier this month, China issued a plan to bolster its cross-border Yuan payments system, to be implemented between now and 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING China\u2019s national currency, Yuan, retained its position as the fourth most actively used currency for global transactions in January, according to data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT). Payments using the Yuan soared to a record 3.2 percent of market share, breaking through its previous high set in 2015 and ranking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n