China currency swap deals surpass 3t yuan

BEIJING -- The value of currency-swap deals between China and other countries surpassed 3 trillion yuan ($483 billion), highlighting the internationalization of the yuan, or RMB.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, had reached swap deals with 32 countries and districts as of the end of May, with the total value hitting 3.1 trillion yuan, the PBOC said on Thursday.

The number of offshore RMB banks is on the rise, with official RMB clearing banks now in 15 countries.

PBOC authorities believe the China-proposed trade network, the Belt and Road Initiative, will create more demand for the yuan overseas.

China is now the world's second-largest economy and its largest exporter. Foreign direct investment to the Chinese mainland jumped 10.5 percent year on year in the first five months of 2015 to settle at 330.95 billion yuan.

By December last year, the RMB overtook the euro to become the second-most used currency in global trade finance after the dollar, the PBOC said, quoting data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

RMB is also one of the top five world-payment currencies and the world' s sixth-largest foreign exchange currency, according to SWIFT.

Yuan-dominated cross-border trade settlement rose 41.6 percent year on year to 6.55 trillion yuan in 2014, said the PBOC.

RMB settlement volume in outbound direct investment (ODI) increased 117.9 percent in 2014 to stand at 186.56 billion yuan, accounting for 26 percent of the total ODI of the year.