THE Chinese currency renminbi (RMB) has surpassed the U.S. dollar to become the largest cross-border payment currency in Shenzhen from January to February this year, according to the Shenzhen Branch of the People’s Bank of China.

In 2020, cross-border yuan payment in Shenzhen exceeded the 2-trillion-yuan (US$309.8 billion) threshold for the first time to reach 2.5 trillion yuan, hitting a record high with a year-on-year growth of 46 percent.

In June 2020, Shenzhen took the lead in China in expanding the pilot scope of facilitating cross-border RMB settlement in trade and investment from the Qianhai & Shekou free trade area to the whole city.

A total of 327 enterprises in Shenzhen have participated in the pilot scheme since 2020, and directly handled cross-border yuan settlement of trade in goods and services and collected payments in line with instructions.

The pilot project, which involved 35.24 billion yuan in cross-border RMB settlement, has helped these enterprises save costs and generate profits of around 70 million yuan.

According to official data, in 2020, Shenzhen’s cross-border yuan settlement of trade in goods grew by 12 percent year on year, 9.6 percentage points higher than the growth rate of its imports and exports.

The number of Shenzhen enterprises that carry out cross-border RMB settlement reached 38,000 last year, an increase of over 40 percent compared with 2019.

From January 2020 to February 2021, the amount of cross-border RMB collection handled by banks in Shenzhen for export-oriented e-commerce companies reached 61.35 billion yuan. More than 90 million yuan of service charges were saved for these businesses.

(Zhang Yu)