Yuan's footprint expanding quickly in Africa

Currency more widely used in trade transactions and foreign reserves; leading Uganda bank joins trend

Uganda State Minister for Industry James Mutende recently converted about 4.4 million Ugandan shillings to 10,000 yuan ($1,630) at a Stanbic Bank office in the capital of Kampala. At the same counter, Zhao Yali, Chinese ambassador to Kampala, exchanged 500 yuan into the local currency.

Those transactions were a sign that the renminbi has become a convertible currency through Uganda's Stanbic Bank, a unit of Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd.