How important is RMB in Africa?

In recent years, with the deepening of economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa, RMB has attracted more and more attention from African countries because of its advantages in facilitating trade and investment between China and Africa, optimizing the structure of foreign exchange reserves and stabilizing the financial system.

Officials, experts and scholars from many African countries said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency a few days ago that it is the general trend that RMB will become the reserve and settlement currency of African countries in the future, which will not only benefit the economic development of Africa, but also boost the internationalization of RMB.

The RMB is being recognized by many African countries.

Caleb Fontanga, executive director of the Institute of Macroeconomic and Financial Management in Eastern and Southern Africa, told the reporter that at a recent seminar on regional economic and monetary policy held by the Institute, officials from central banks and ministries of finance from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, Namibia, Rwanda and Botswana 14 African countries suggested that RMB should be considered as a reserve currency and its use should be expanded in the region and even in Africa as a whole.

Fontanga said that considering China's increasing share in the global economy, China is becoming an important trading partner of countries in the region, and using RMB as a reserve currency is beneficial to all African countries.

It is reported that Rwanda and other countries have included RMB in their foreign exchange reserves, and South African and Nigerian countries have also signed local currency swap agreements with China. Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and other countries have shown great interest in using RMB as reserve currency or settlement currency.

Doreen Makumi, public relations manager of National Bank of Rwanda, told reporters that in view of the rapid growth of trade between Rwanda and China and the demand for diversified reserve currencies, Rwanda included RMB in its foreign exchange reserves in 20 16. Analysts believe that the use of RMB as a reserve currency can provide sufficient foreign exchange for business exchanges between the two countries.

Patrick Njoroge, governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, said that the rapid development of trade and investment relations between Kenya and China in the past 65,438+00 years has boosted the demand for RMB, and Kenya is considering including RMB in its foreign exchange reserves.

John Mangudia, governor of reserve bank of zimbabwe, told reporters that the governments of Tianjin and China are negotiating to use RMB as the currency of the settlement transaction system, which will promote the rapid growth of trade between the two countries and China's investment in Tianjin.

The entry of RMB into Africa is beneficial to the local economy.

The insiders believe that listing RMB as a reserve and settlement currency will help attract more investment from China and stabilize the financial security in the region. In the long run, it is the general trend for the RMB to "enter Africa".

Charles Sikwakwakwa, Permanent Secretary of Botswana's Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, told reporters that listing RMB as a reserve currency will enhance China's influence in the country's commercial trade, greatly reduce transaction costs and attract more investment from China.

Harold Snyders, an economic analyst in Namibia-Namibia-Belgium-Asia, believes that the value of RMB is much more stable, stronger and stronger than that of regional currencies such as South African Rand, which will bring a turning point to the current sluggish economic growth in Namibia-Namibia-Belgium-Asia.

Zhu Yongkai, business manager of the Nairobi Representative Office of Bank of China, analyzed that at present, most international settlements in African countries are settled in US dollars, with little direct trade with the United States and a larger total trade with China. Incorporating RMB into its "currency basket" will not only help reduce transaction costs, but also contribute to its financial security.

Li Feng, head of the Tanzanian representative office of Bank of China, believes that the potential for RMB to be included in the reserve currency of African countries mainly comes from three aspects: First, China-Africa trade is highly complementary, and African countries have strong ability to accept RMB; Second, because the China market is the main exporter of resource-based products in Africa, China's trade deficit with Africa has become a favorable condition for exporting RMB; Third, many African countries need China's financial support for infrastructure construction and industrialization, which has become an important entry point for RMB to enter Africa.

The road of RMB "entering Africa" needs to be further cleared.

Some officials, experts and scholars also said that at present, in most African countries, there is still much room for the development of RMB in the field of reserves and settlement. It is suggested that investment in Africa should be combined with the internationalization of RMB, so as to speed up financial cooperation between China and Africa and make more African countries and their institutions more familiar with and trust RMB.

Mundi, a famous South African economist and professor at the School of Economics and Business Sciences of the University of Witwatersrand, suggested that RMB settlement could be an option for China to promote loan cooperation and assistance projects with African countries in the future. Combining RMB internationalization with China's investment in Africa will make the use and settlement of RMB in Africa smoother.

Scott Felshen, an assistant researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue in Pretoria, South Africa, said that accelerating and deepening China-Africa cooperation will promote the internationalization of the RMB in Africa.

Li Feng believes that the three directions of China-Africa financial cooperation in the future are to continue to sign currency swap agreements, promote the direct exchange and listing of RMB, and promote the pricing of bulk commodities in RMB. In addition, we should speed up the construction of branches of Chinese banks in Africa, build an institutional network covering major regions in Africa, and change the situation that the African market has low awareness of RMB and the exchange route is not smooth.

It's good to see the strength of the country.

The news comes from Netease News.