Shanghai accounts for more than 40% of the country's total, and China's cross-border RMB settlement volume increased by 24.1% year-on-year last year.
At the "2024 RMB Internationalization Forum" hosted by the Bank of China on June 6, the 2024 "RMB Internationalization White Paper" was officially released. The domestic and foreign industrial and commercial enterprises and overseas financial institutions under investigation continued to express their opinions on the development of RMB internationalization in 2023. Give a positive review.
The market data displayed in the "White Paper" further confirms the positive development trend of RMB internationalization. In 2023, China's cross-border RMB settlement volume will exceed 52.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.1%. In the first nine months of 2023, the proportion of RMB cross-border receipts and payments in goods trade accounted for 24.4% of the total cross-border receipts and payments in local and foreign currencies during the same period, a year-on-year increase of 7 percentage points. In December 2023, the share of RMB used in global payment and settlement reached 4.14%, an increase of 2.23 percentage points from January 2023. Cross-border RMB settlement in RCEP free trade zones and countries and regions jointly building the “Belt and Road” has maintained rapid growth. The increasingly internationalized RMB has shown greater vitality in serving China's high-level opening-up.
Among them, Shanghai International Financial Center is an important capital distribution hub for cross-border circulation of RMB. Shanghai is the world's top international trade port and an international financial center featuring the trading and pricing of RMB financial assets. It plays a pivotal role in the cross-border outflow and return of RMB. In 2023, Shanghai's cross-border RMB fund settlement volume will account for more than 40% of the country's total, of which cross-border RMB settlement volume under securities investment will account for approximately 60% of the country's total. As the main channel bank for the cross-border use of RMB, Bank of China's Shanghai Branch covers more than 130 countries and regions among the countries and regions involved in cross-border RMB receipts and payments by its domestic institutions. The wide coverage also reflects the status of Shanghai International Financial Center as a hub for handling RMB funds around the world.
The survey also showed that more overseas industrial and commercial enterprises reported cross-border RMB receipts and payments with countries and regions outside China. SWIFT message data also showed that the share of RMB used in global payment settlements has increased, and more countries and regions have become multilateral users of RMB. The regional hub shows that the offshore RMB market network is becoming more complete and provides good support for the larger-scale multilateral use of RMB.
The "White Paper" pointed out that factors such as the further consolidation of China's global and regional trade status and the overall stability of China's price level have further consolidated the foundation of the RMB as an anchor currency. At the same time, the deepening of regional monetary and financial cooperation will help promote the coordination of currency exchange rates in the region. Although the U.S. dollar index has repeatedly fluctuated in 2023, the coordinated floating levels of many national currencies and the RMB exchange rate have increased, and the foundation for the RMB to become a regional anchor currency has become more solid.