The yuan became the world's eighth most-used currency in international payments in December, said the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) on January 23.
Lifted by the Chinese Government's efforts to promote its global clout, the yuan overtook 22 currencies over the past three years to achieve a market share of 1.12 percent, just behind the Swiss franc, which holds a share of 1.29 percent.
This year, economists believe that the yuan's influence is set to grow further as China adopts new liberalization measures to facilitate the yuan's cross-border movements.
A surge in yuan-denominated trade helped boost the currency's global clout. The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said that global trade settled in yuan hit 4.63 trillion yuan ($764 billion) in 2013, up 57 percent from 2012.
Cross-border direct investment denominated in yuan jumped 90 percent to 534 billion yuan ($88.27 billion) in 2013. |