Internationalisation of renminbi has come a long way

IT is hard to believe that just a decade ago, the Chinese renminbi (RMB) had little exposure in international trade settlement markets.

Strict capital controls by the People's Bank of China meant that any export of the currency was firmly prohibited.

Transactions were settled in the US dollar; Chinese merchants had to pass the foreign receipt to the Chinese central bank, which would then convert the foreign currency back into RMB at a state-controlled exchange rate.