"China and Global Economic Forum 2024" will be held on July 20th with the theme of "China Power and A New Chapter of Global Economy: Development and Prospect". The Director General of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the Chief China Economist and the Chief Economist of the China Banking Association, and the Executive Dean of the HSBC Business School at Peking University, Ba Shusong, attended and delivered a speech.

Regarding the internationalization process of the renminbi, Ba Shusong pointed out that by observing recent economic data, it can be found that the use of the renminbi for trade settlement has grown rapidly, but it has decreased in terms of investment and reserve currency use, creating a contrast.

In addition, the trend of using renminbi has clearly risen in borrowing and debt aspects of financial transactions, while the use of renminbi on the asset side has actually decreased. "It is limited to promote the internationalization of the renminbi simply by means of trade settlement, and the path and method of promoting the internationalization of the renminbi simply by the liability side is also very limited," said Ba Shusong.

Ba Shusong pointed out that compared with the past internationalization environment of the renminbi, the current international politics and geopolitics and the way of globalization have changed significantly, which will have a profound impact on the next step of the internationalization of the renminbi.

Due to the impact of geopolitical factors, the current globalization is promoting a new development stage in a fragmented and regional cooperation manner, which has significant implications for the internationalization and use of the renminbi. "For some economies, due to various reasons, they cannot obtain channels for the payment, investment, and use of other international currencies. The proportion of renminbi use rises unusually, and in some "Belt and Road Initiative" countries, the use of renminbi has clearly declined," Ba Shusong said. However, through relevant indicators, it can be seen that the renminbi has actually become one of the important currency anchors in some Central Asian and Southeast Asian countries. "After years of internationalization development, due to the close trade and investment exchanges between China and these regions, the renminbi has actually become one of the important currency anchors in these regions, which is an important favorable condition for promoting the internationalization of the renminbi in the next step."

Ba Shusong also emphasized that it is not enough to promote the internationalization of the renminbi only by means of trade pricing settlements. If there are no subsequent settlement tools for investment, absorption of renminbi products, markets and transactions, the renminbi will only be used once in the field of trade pricing and will soon be converted into other international currencies.

Ba Shusong suggested that the focus should be on improving supporting renminbi transaction settlement tools and promoting some renminbi-investible products, which is the turning point and key point for promoting the internationalization of the renminbi in the next step. "For example, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, to attract renminbi from these places to invest in some financial products in Hong Kong, so that the driving force of renminbi internationalization is no longer simply based on trade settlement, but instead based on investment pricing or reserve enhancement."

Ba Shusong believes that the diversified investment ecology of offshore renminbi in the Hong Kong market and the interaction with the onshore market may become a very important way to promote the next step of the internationalization of the renminbi.