Renminbi gets official notice as trade currency in China’s border nations

Thanks to intense promotional efforts by the Chinese government in recent years, the renminbi has become an increasingly common “hard currency” in the frontier cities of neighboring nations, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma). The trend has impacted local underground banking activities, reports our sister newspaper Want Daily.

In Mong Cai, Vietnam, a city thriving from cross-border trade with China, the renminbi is far more popular than the US dollar. As a result, the Vietnamese government has acknowledged the renminbi as a legitimate currency for circulation in the area and is developing the city into a special economic zone focusing on trade with China.

Hot money exodus ends currency wars

Turkey’s efforts to pull the lira off record lows on Monday are likely to be emulated across emerging markets as central banks fight to avert an exodus of foreign capital driven by the impending turn in US policy.

It’s all a far cry from a year or so ago, when emerging market exporters were battling rising exchange rates and Brazil was accusing Western policymakers of waging currency wars by flooding the world with cheap money.