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| No.2 April, 2011 |
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Hong Kong the ideal offshore Renminbi centre |
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Hong Kong is the ideal offshore Renminbi (RMB) centre for overseas businesses wanting to boost their trade and investment ties with China, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Chief Executive Norman Chan said at the RMB Australasia Summit in Sydney (March 17).
The Summit was organized by the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre, and attended by over 300 participants from leading financial institutions and business establishments in Australia and New Zealand. Mr Chan noted that China had become the second largest trading nation and economy, with external trade surpassing US$3 trillion in 2010 and direct investment activities also growing significantly over the past decade. He said the use of RMB in cross-border transactions was likely to expand very rapidly in the future. |
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 He pointed out that from 2000 to 2010, China's exports to Australia increased by 4 times to US$30.7 billion, while imports from Australia increased by 10 times to US$60.3 billion. Meanwhile, direct investment flows between China and Australia also increased by more than 9 times to US$3.3 billion over the same ten-year period.
"The wider use of RMB will greatly enhance all these bilateral trade and investment flows as it helps reduce currency conversion costs and exchange rate risks," he said.
Mr Mike Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), addressing the Summit, said, "A globally convertible RMB is an important component in realising the Chinese government's growth aspirations. The real impact for Australia is the introduction to the global economy of another significant currency - potentially with a financial market that will become as large and as deep as that of Europe."
"With the strong support of the Central Government for Hong Kong to develop into an offshore RMB business centre, a policy which has been enshrined in the National 12th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong is ideally placed to serve financial institutions and corporates from Australia and other economies which are expected to have continually expanding trade and investment links with Mainland China in the years ahead," said Mr Chan at the Summit.
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