Friday Mar 2, 2012
* All companies can now settle trades in yuan-c.bank
* New measure will to internationalise the yuan
BEIJING, China boosted efforts to internationalise the yuan on Friday by widening its trade settlement rules to allow all firms in the country to invoice or pay for cross-border transactions in the Chinese currency.
The central bank's announcement that the new rules will be applied nationwide underscores the success of a 2-1/2-year trial by Beijing to globalise the yuan, which it hopes will one day rival the dollar and the euro as a major trade settlement currency.
The yuan is still tightly controlled by Beijing, but Chinese leaders say they are prepared to gradually relax their grip as they free China's capital account, grow its financial markets, and oversee a yuan that will be basically convertible by 2015.
China has allowed a 30 percent revaluation against the dollar since 2005 and says it is committed to gradual reform but has faced pressure, particularly from the United States, to lift the yuan's value further, to remove what is perceived to be an unfair advantage for Chinese exports in global markets.
"Companies that can settle their trades in yuan are no longer restricted to those selected for the pilot programme," the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
"All registered exporters and importers can now settle their trades in yuan."
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