“Overall, China’s progress in internationalizing the RMB will likely lead the International Monetary Fund Executive Board to approve the RMB’s inclusion in the SDR basket of currencies”, Lundsager said.
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China’s bailout of its ailing stock markets distorted lending figures in recent months, but a jump of about 30% in new loans in the January-September period from same nine months a year ago showed how the government was trying to steady a slowing economy.
PBOC deputy governor Yi Gang said during an August. 13 press briefing that extending the trading hours until after markets in London and New York open will make it easier for people engaged in foreign exchange trade.
Sentiment toward the yuan has turned positive for the first time since early August as the PBOC succeeded in steadying the currency after its surprise devaluation on August 11, according to the survey of 20 fund managers, currency traders and analysts conducted from Tuesday through Thursday.
The Shanghai Hong Kong Stock Connect, launched past year, is seen as a significant step towards allowing foreign investors’ access to China’s equity market, which is otherwise restricted to a limited number of approved foreign institutional investors. At yesterday’s close, the yuan was trading at 6.3415 against the greenback.
“And by releasing controls on two way investment flows it started the process of aligning onshore and offshore markets and opening up the capital account to make the renminbi fully convertible”, he said.
In fact, China’s reform pace has never stopped.
The growth of renminbi green bonds is also another key area of green finance advancement.
To emphasise China’s selection of London as its preferred offshore renminbi financial centre in a non-Chinese timezone, Beijing is also planning a second tranche of renminbi bonds to be issued in London by the China Development Bank, the leading source of finance for overseas investment projects. The debt would be issued by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank.
As one of the few major countries to have a trade surplus, support from China could be needed if the world experienced another financial crisis, he said.
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The central bank’s offering, which is being arranged by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商銀行) and HSBC Holdings PLC, is due to take place by early next month.
