China’s cut of US dollar weighting in key index will boost global fortunes of yuan, economists say
- China has cut the US dollar weighting in a key yuan exchange rate index for only the second time since 2015
- The change will help reduce China’s reliance on the American currency and promote greater international use of the yuan in financial transactions
China’s decision to cut the weighting of the US dollar in a basket of foreign currencies used to determine the strength of the yuan will help Beijing’s long-term efforts to weaken the international dominance of the American currency, economists said.
The China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), a unit of the Chinese central bank, trimmed the weighting of the US dollar on Wednesday to 21.59 per cent from 22.40 per cent in a key yuan exchange index to make it “more representative” of current trade conditions.
The new version of the index will be based on 2018 trade data, rather than data from 2015, when the CFETS was first established.
The yuan hopes to become a reserve currency, to prevent the situation where the US dollar dominates the global financial system - or the so-called hegemony of the US dollar.
“The yuan hopes to become a reserve currency, to prevent the situation where the US dollar dominates the global financial system – or the so-called hegemony of the US dollar. This is a longer-term goal … and an inevitable trend,” said Shen Jianguan, vice-president and chief economist at JD Digits, although he added that the adjustment also reflected changes to China’s trading environment.