He said his latest report People’s Bank of China (Central Bank), the opening up of China’s financial market has added more attractiveness to overseas investors for Chinese yuan-denominated assets and boosted global use of the Chinese currency.
By the end of 2021, overseas entities held 10.83 trillion yuan (about 1.55 trillion US dollars) in yuan assets including stocks, bonds, loans and deposits, up 20.5 percent year on year, the report added.
The report also said cross-border settlements using the Chinese yuan rose, with the total settlements used in current account and direct investment reaching 6 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, up 23 percent from last year. Meanwhile, yuan settlements in cross-border e-commerce rose 20.7 percent from the same period last year to 431.7 billion yuan.
The report added that more than 80 central banks or monetary authorities abroad rely on the yuan in their foreign exchange reserves.
The report cited data from the International Monetary Fund, noting that the Chinese currency accounted for 2.88% of the total foreign exchange reserves in the entire world in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 1.8 percentage points from 2016, when the Chinese currency entered the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket. International.