12 Feb Chinese currency flowing in the UAE and Qatar

According to the latest data tracked by SWIFT’s RMB Tracker, the UAE and Qatar are the most active countries in the Middle East in using the Chinese currency for direct payments towards China and Hong Kong.

In 2015, the UAE generated 74% of the RMB payments (in terms of value) towards China and Hong Kong, up by 52% compared to 2014. In Qatar the Chinese currency was used for 60% of the total payments, a big increase equivalent to +247% compared to 2014.

Moreover, based on global across-the-border flows, data from SWIFT reveal how most payments between these Gulf Countries and China and Hong Kong are made in US dollars and with a middleman, mainly compensation banks.

Moreover, the increased use of RMB in the Middle East was also favoured by the creation of an RMB clearing centre in Qatar – which was set up last year, the first one in the Middle East – and the memorandum of cooperation signed between the People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of the UAE, which established agreements to liquidate RMB in the UAE.

According to data for December 2015, the Chinese currency still ranked 5th in the ranking of most used currencies for global payments (in terms of value), with a share of 2.31% of global payments, up by 2.28% compared with November 2015. In general RMB payments rose by 15.92% (in terms of value) compared with November 2015, with respect to a general increase of all payment currencies of 14.43%.