China News Service, Beijing, September 18 (Reporter Xia Bin) The "2021 RMB Internationalization Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "report") released by the People's Bank of China on the 18th stated that since 2020, the central bank has steadily promoted the internationalization of the RMB. Better play the role of cross-border RMB business in serving the real economy and promoting trade and investment facilitation.
The renminbi's payment currency function has been further enhanced, the investment and financing currency function has been deepened, the reserve currency function has increased, and the pricing currency function has made new breakthroughs. The internationalization of the renminbi has made positive progress.
The report shows that in 2020, the amount of RMB cross-border receipts and payments will increase rapidly. The total amount of cross-border receipts and payments of RMB on behalf of banks is 28.39 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 44.3%, and the amount of receipts and payments hit a record high.
The RMB cross-border revenue and expenditure were generally balanced, with a total net outflow of 185.786 billion yuan throughout the year.
In the first half of 2021, the total amount of cross-border receipts and payments of RMB on behalf of customers by banks was 17.57 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.7%.
The report mentioned that according to data released by the Association of World Banks, Finance and Telecommunications (SWIFT), in June 2021, the renminbi ranked fifth among the major international payment currencies, and the renminbi payment accounted for 2.5% of all currency payments, compared with last year An increase of 0.7% over the same period.
In the first quarter of 2021, the renminbi ranked fifth in the currency composition of the official foreign exchange reserves (COFER) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The renminbi accounted for 2.5% of the global foreign exchange reserves. The SDR basket rose 1.4 percentage points.
According to the report, the amount of cross-border RMB settlement related to the real economy, such as current accounts and direct investment, has grown rapidly, and the use of RMB in important areas such as commodities and ASEAN and other regions has further increased.
The flexibility of the RMB exchange rate has increased, and two-way fluctuations have become the norm.
In order to avoid exchange rate risks, more market entities tend to choose to use RMB in cross-border trade and investment.
The cross-border RMB business policy framework is more complete, and the use of RMB in cross-border trade and investment is more convenient.
At the same time, foreign investors actively allocate renminbi assets, and the use of renminbi under capital items such as securities investment has become the main driving force for the growth of renminbi cross-border revenue and expenditure.
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