Internationalisation of the renminbi
Albeit still in its infancy, there are clear signs of the internationalisation of the renminbi, confirmed by its inclusion in the SDR basket: the creation of institutions similar to the IMF and the WB, the network of agreements for mutual payments in national currencies and no longer in dollars among the BRICS countries,
an SDR-denominated loan issued by the WB and reserved for the Chinese market and, in 2018, the launch of the oil futures market in renminbi. As has already happened for the US, the renminbi holdings by the oil-exporting countries can be reinvested in Chinese assets and contribute to internationalising the renminbi and progressively de-dollarising the oil market. Finally, in early 2019, Russia, which had already reduced its dollar reserves in favour of gold, sold another 100 billion dollars to buy euros, renminbi and yen, thus continuing a march to close the gap between the composition of its own currency reserves and that of the SDR basket.
by Antonio Mosconi