BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s plan to facilitate cross-border financial services will help promote greater international usage of the yuan, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday, at a time global trade tensions have intensified.
The central bank published a plan earlier this week encouraging state-owned enterprises to prioritise yuan usage in payment and settlement as they expand overseas expansion.
The announcements comes after U.S. President Donald Trump launched so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, which have shaken up global trade and roiled financial markets.
Lu Lei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), told reporters in Beijing that the external environment had become more complex and forces driving global economic growth were insufficient while protectionism was intensifying.
“The multilateral trading system has been blocked. Tariff barriers have increased. This has affected the stability of global production and supply chains and hindered the international economic cycle.”
Lu urged Chinese companies to accelerate overseas investment, adding that improvements in cross-border financial services will help boost yuan usage in trade and investment.
China’s President Xi Jinping this month visited three Southeast Asian countries in a move to bolster regional ties, calling on trade partners to oppose unilateral bullying.
China’s yuan remained the world’s fourth most active currency for global payments by value in March, with a share of 4.13%, according to the financial messaging service Swift.
A separate set of data showed that yuan’s cross-border usage hit a record $724.9 billion last month, accounting for 54.3% of all China’s cross-border activities, the country’s FX regulator said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kim Coghill)
