A vital step toward yuan's internationalization

The yuan was included in the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights currency basket on Oct 1. According to the IMF, the US dollar will now comprise 41.73 percent (down from 41.9 percent) of the SDR currency basket, the euro 30.93 percent (down from 37.4 percent), the yen 8.33 percent (down from 9.4 percent), the pound sterling 8.09 percent (down from 11.3 percent), and the yuan 10.92 percent.

Data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications show the yuan is the second-largest trade financing currency, and the fourth- or fifth-largest trade payment currency. And according to SWIFT, the yuan's proportion in global trade is 8 percent, and in global trade payment nearly 2 percent.

Statistics from the Bank for International Settlements show the yuan's share in global foreign exchange trade has doubled in three years, from 2 percent to 4 percent. And its share as a global reserve currency is slightly more than 1 percent.