RMB Usage Holding Steady in January, Unable to See Growth – SWIFT Data Shows

SWIFT, a global provider of financial messaging services, has released the latest data report from its renminbi (RMB) tracker, outlining a monthly snapshot in the currency’s usage. During January 2017, the RMB suffered a month-over-month decline in overall Payments by value, relative to December 2016, SWIFT data shows.

The decrease came on the heels of a report last month that showed an abrupt reversal of RMB usage on a yearly basis. 2016 proved to be a down year for the Chinese currency in the payments space, as it suffered a -29.5 percent decrease year-over-year in the value for payments for the RMB relative to 2015.

Stalled Growth

Furthermore, the currency ended the year as the sixth most active unit for international payments, refusing to overtake the Canadian dollar (CAD). Looking at the first month of the new year, the RMB retained its spot as the sixth most active currency for international payments by value, with a share of 1.68 percent – this reflected a fall of -2.83 percent from December 2016.

The decline could be attributed in part to a more general decline amongst all payments currencies, which came in at -2.55 percent on a month-over-month basis from December 2016.

As of January 2017, the worldwide payments order of most utilized currencies by value is as follows: USD 40.72 percent, EUR 32.87 percent, GBP 7.49 percent, JPY 3.06 percent, CAD 1.87 percent, and the CNY 1.68 percent.