China Data: A Milestone for RMB Internationalization

The essential numbers on the RMB internationalization; the contraction in China’s luxury market; the growth in China’s e-commerce transaction value; and more.

China has made no bones about its ambitions to make the renminbi a truly global currency. Earlier this year, the government announced that in 2014 alone RMB 9.95 trillion ($1.6 trillion) was used for cross-border payments. While comparative figures for 2013 are not available, the figure shows that the RMB is on its way to internationalization. According to payments provider SWIFT, the RMB has already broken into the hallowed club of the top five global payments currencies, overtaking the Canadian and Australian dollar and just behind the Japanese Yen, British pound, Euro and US dollar.

In this installment of China Data, we bring you all the numbers that should be on your radar—from the Chinese RMB to the luxury and e-commerce markets in China and China’s march towards becoming a more equal society in terms of the Gini Coefficient.