Friday, October 10, 2014

Chinese Yuan and US dollar compete in African markets

By Tonderayi Mukeredzi

The Africa Report - Friday, 10 October 2014

A number of African central banks are applying to the Chinese Central Bank for currency swaps, with Zimbabwe and Ghana already using the RMB as part of their reserve currency. Nigeria could also shift more of its foreign reserves into Chinese yuan from dollars as the RMB gains greater traction in global trade.  In March this year Zimbabwe joined a growing list of countries in Africa and the world using the Chinese currency, yuan, also known as remnibi (RMB), as one of its official currencies after its central bank added the RMB, the Japanese yen, the Australia dollar and the Indian rupee to the existing basket of currencies.  Zimbabwe abandoned its currency in 2009 when it was rendered worthless by excessive inflation. Since then, it has been using a basket of currencies dominated by the US dollar.  In announcing the decision to adopt the yuan and other currencies, the then Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe acting governor, Charity Dhliwayo, said that the southern African country's trade and investment with China, India, Japan and Australia "had grown appreciably." 

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