Renminbi Series: Yuan’s share in global payments declines sharply in February; dollar continues dominance

Despite President Trump’s toughening stance towards foreign policies and trade relations, the dollar continues to dominate the global payment system, while euro's share has significantly increased, solidifying its position as the second most preferred payment currency. 

The dollar continues to dominate:

• According to the latest SWIFT report, the U.S. dollar accounted for 39.07 percent of all global payments, processed through the SWIFT in the month of January.
• The share of the USD declined 1.01 percent compared to January.

However, Yuan is continuing its gradual rise,

• In February 2019, the Yuan’s share in global payments declined by 0.3 percent m/m to 1.85 percent.
• Due to this sharp fall, Yuan’s share rose only by 0.01 percent over the past year. Overall, yuan payments value decreased by 26.47% compared to January 2019. All payments value decreased by 14.3 percent.
• Yuan is currently the fifth most used currency in the payment system, behind the euro (34.99 percent), the pound (7.34 percent), and the Japanese yen (3.51 percent).