Enterprises are growing more keen on using the yuan in the settlement of international payments – a trend emerging as the safety and credibility of US assets are questioned, according to survey results released by Renmin University’s International Monetary Institute on Sunday.
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Renmin University’s findings for the yuan’s internationalisation in the final quarter of 2024 show consistency with the results from the first three quarters – the percentage of enterprises planning to increase yuan settlements rose from about 21.5 per cent in the second quarter to about 23 per cent in the fourth quarter, and further increased to nearly 24 per cent for the first quarter of this year.
About 68 per cent of surveyed enterprises said they were using the yuan for cross-border trade settlements, while 53 per cent were using the currency for foreign exchange trading.
“The recent soaring volatility in the US Treasury market marks a watershed event,” said Yang Changjiang, a finance professor at Fudan University, noting how – unlike in previous instances of turbulence – global capital has not been flowing to the US this time.
This is an opportunity that we must seize
There was some panic selling of US Treasury bills in the past two weeks, once driving up the 30-year yield by half a percentage point, as Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariff plan has roiled the market.
