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Pilot cities to use yuan in cross-border trade

By Qin Zhongwei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-03 15:42

After three months' preparation, five major cities were finalized as the pilot ones to use the yuan in cross-boarder trade settlement, and the administrative rules were jointly issued by the People's Bank of China and other five ministries yesterday in order to make the transactions "smoothly executed".

The five cities are Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Dongguan. Besides Shanghai, the other four are all located in the Pearl River Delta.

By this move, the risks of exchange rate fluctuations will be greatly reduced. At the same time, it also guarantees the normal trade between China and its neighboring countries amid the economic downturn, said Ding Zhijie, vice-dean of Financial School of University of International Business and Economics.

But the new rules also make it clear that, not all the enterprises in these five cities are allowed to settle the trade transactions in yuan, except those "designated and eligible"ones.

Last December, the Chinese government announced the pilot project to promote use of the yuan to settle bilateral trade payments with Hong Kong and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members, but did not specify which Chinese cities would participate.

On April 8 this year, the pilot program of choosing five cities got the approval by a State Council meeting chaired by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.