The yuan has become the world’s fifth most widely used payments currency, with the value of cross-border deals settled in it more than doubling last year, data from the Society for International Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) showed yesterday.
The data comes as China looks to make the yuan used more internationally in line with its standing as the world’s second-largest economy, while at the same time keeping its value tightly controlled.
The yuan overtook the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar to enter the top five of world payment currencies in November last year, according to a SWIFT statement.
It has climbed eight spots in fewer than two years, having been in 13th place in January 2013.
The yuan’s share of global payments by value reached a new high of 2.17 percent last month, the Brussels-based SWIFT said, closing in on the yen’s 2.69 percent.
Total yuan payments rose 102 percent last year, the statement added, dwarfing the overall annual rise of 4.4 percent for all currencies.
Some analysts predict the yuan will one day rival the US dollar in international markets.
“It is a great testimony to the internationalization of the RMB [yuan] and confirms its transition from an ‘emerging’ to a ‘business as usual’ payment currency,” SWIFT banking markets head Wim Raymaekers said in the statement.
The US dollar remains the top payments currency with a share of 44.64 percent last month, followed by the euro (28.3 percent) and the British pound (7.92 percent), SWIFT data showed.
China has set up yuan clearing arrangements with 10 countries and regions and signed currency swap agreements with 28 central banks.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce last week said it will only issue figures for inward and outward investment in yuan, dropping the US dollar statistic, a move that the agency said was partly an effort to push the yuan’s greater international role.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI