Lee: HKSAR to explore, promote using RMB to settle govt expenditure

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the government will take the lead in actively exploring and promoting the use of renminbi to settle government expenditure under suitable scenarios, noting the administration will further enhance the offshore renminbi market's capacity to support the real economy, enabling trade, investment, financing and cross-border business dealings to grow.

Delivering the city's inaugural Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026-30) and the fifth Policy Address of his administration on Wednesday, the chief executive said the SAR aims to strengthen its role as a global offshore financial hub in three key areas — renminbi business, asset-and-wealth management, and risk management activities.

"Hong Kong, as an international financial center, must firmly demonstrate its international positioning by leveraging its open financial markets to attract global capital, talent, and financial enterprises," he said.

"We will strive to actively consolidate Hong Kong's status as a hub connecting global financial markets, facilitating international capital to seize the development opportunities available in our country and in Asia, while assisting Chinese mainland enterprises and capital in pursuing high-quality global expansion."

The SAR government, he said, expects commodity trading to be a major scenario of renminbi internationalization in the future.

"We will further enrich the variety of renminbi-denominated and settled commodity futures and options traded in Hong Kong, while encouraging and supporting the use of renminbi for pricing and settlement in spot commodity transactions. We will develop renminbi-denominated commodity trading and pursue differentiated and complementary development with the mainland market, including collaboration with the Qianhai Mercantile Exchange," Lee said.