Right Ways: Yuan. internationalization

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Russia joins more countries in issuance of yuan bonds as currency’s internationalization accelerates

Chinese yuan Photo:VCG

Russia's Finance Ministry will take orders on Tuesday for a two-tranche, domestically traded yuan-denominated sovereign bond sale, joining multiple countries including Hungary and Indonesia in the issuance of yuan-denominated bonds in 2025. Analysts said that the move underscores global investors' increasing confidence in China's economy and its currency.

The bonds will be issued with maturities ranging from three to seven years, a coupon payment frequency of 182 days and a nominal value of 10,000 yuan ($1,413.32) each. Investors will have the opportunity to buy bonds and receive payments in both the yuan and ruble according to their choice, according to a statement on the website of Russia's Finance Ministry.

The borrower is expected to market the debt with a targeted coupon of 6.25 to 6.5 percent for the 3.2-year tranche, adding that coupon for the 7.5-year portion will be capped at 7.5 percent, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing the Interfax news agency.

In addition to Russia, Hungary issued 5 billion yuan in panda bonds - yuan-denominated debt securities issued by overseas entities in China - in China's interbank market in July, the Xinhua News Agency reported. In October, the government of Indonesia raised 6 billion yuan in its first ever yuan-denominated bond, the China News Service reported.

"Foreign governments and foreign-funded enterprises increasingly issue yuan-denominated bonds, both in the Chinese mainland and offshore, which underscores the growing attractiveness of the Chinese currency," Zhao Qingming, a Beijing-based veteran financial expert, told the Global Times on Monday.

Zhao said that the yuan has become a major international currency. According to SWIFT data, the yuan's share in global payments reached 3.17 percent in September, with yuan payments increasing by 15.53 percent compared with August.

A recent report by the Bank for International Settlements confirmed the yuan's status as the world's fifth-largest trading currency, with its global transaction share at 8.5 percent, up 1.5 percentage points from 2022, the largest rise among all currencies.

The yuan is the largest settlement currency in China's external payments and receipts, the second-largest trade financing currency globally, and the third-largest payment currency, and it ranks third in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights basket, according to data from the website of the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, in October.

Overseas entities' holdings of onshore yuan-denominated financial assets have exceeded 10 trillion yuan. More than 80 countries and regions' central banks or monetary authorities have included the yuan in their foreign exchange reserves, while yuan-denominated bonds and stocks have been included in major global asset trading indices, according to the PBC.

The yuan's internationalization has accelerated in recent years, but there is great potential for further gains, given the status of China's economy in the world, Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin School of Administration, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Thanks to China's economic robustness, institutional advantages and commitment to high-level opening-up, China's economy remains on the trajectory of sound development. The yuan's internationalization will continue to advance, with the currency to be accepted by an increasing number of economies and market entities," Cong said.

An official of the PBC said that China will continue to improve the environment for both domestic and overseas entities holding and using the yuan, as the cross-border use of the yuan is a natural process, according to an interview posted on the central bank's website in October.

"As the pace of diversification in the international monetary system accelerates, business entities are showing a stronger endogenous demand for using the yuan," the official said.

To steadily promote the yuan's internationalization, efforts are needed to boost yuan settlement in China's cross-border trade and expand Chinese yuan direct investment overseas, according to Zhao.