The Chinese yuan breaks into the top five global currencies which are used most often in international settlements. According to official data from global payment system Swift, the yuan has become one of the world’s leaders in March. A month before, the currency dropped to seventh place in international payments rankings, but it caught up in March. Foreign observers blame a prolonged celebration of the Lunar New Year as the main reason for reducing the number of transactions, and the loss of positions as a consequence of this. However, just after holidays the situation has changed dramatically. In February, the share of payments in yuan fell to 1.81%, but in March the figure increased to 2.03%. According to data from Swift, last autumn the Chinese yuan joined the top five most-used currencies for the first time, despite the fact that these operations are linked to a number of difficulties due to different languages and character sets. A record volume of transactions was logged in December, 2014 and came in at 2.17%. In addition, Beijing is purposefully trying to move the yuan up as the world currency, and therein a high performance has been achieved. The renminbi’s role in foreign trade increases significantly year by year. Currently, several international centers trading the Chinese currency work successfully, and the National Bank of China signed a swap agreement with the central banks of 28 countries. Considering these rates, it is safe to say that the renminbi will soon officially become a reserve currency.
