Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The People’s Bank of China has published an annual report on the level of internationalization of the yuan (RMB) in the global monetary system. Noting the "steady" growth in the use of Chinese currency in international trade (despite the damage caused by the pandemic), the authors of the report provide the following details:

- in 2019, a new record was recorded for the growth in the use of RMB in cross-border payments - 19.67 trillion yuan (about US$2.83 trillion). This is 38.1% of the total volume of cross-border payments of the PRC for the last year and is 24.1% more than in 2018;

- in Q4 2019, the share of the yuan in world foreign exchange reserves reached a record level of 1.95% (US$217.67 billion) and became the fifth most used currency in the world, surpassing the Canadian dollar. Currently, more than 70 central banks and monetary authorities around the world have included the Chinese yuan in the list of foreign exchange reserves;

- investment in securities of the PRC has become the driving force behind the growth of cross-border use of the yuan. In 2019, the volume of such investments amounted to 9.51 trillion yuan (about US$1.37 trillion), which is 49.1% more than in 2018. In addition, by the end of 2019, the market value of shares in yuan and the volume of bonds held by foreign entities in the PRC increased respectively by 82% and 26.7%.

Against the background of the declared positive trends, a number of Chinese economists regard the internationalization of the yuan as one of the main factors in mitigating the consequences of Washington’s attempts to “remove China from the dollar system” (restrictions on the entry of Chinese companies on American exchanges, a ban on trade transactions with them).

Against this background, as experts note, expecting a worsening of the situation, Beijing will make even more efforts to maintain a stable exchange rate of the yuan, make it a major investment asset and provide settlements through it, especially with countries that have joined the Belt and Road project. ... This is expected to be achieved through a further increase in the interest of foreign traders in the use of the yuan both when concluding exchange (futures) contracts with the PRC and in trading real goods (primarily raw materials - oil, iron ore, etc.