Transformations in the international financial and economic system show that by 2025, the global monetary architecture will have increasingly evolved into a fragile and multipolar structure. One of the most visible elements of this change is the acceleration noted by the People’s Republic of China to the international use phase of the national currency yuan. China’s ever-increasing share of global trade includes rapidly expanding economic networks under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its strategic efforts to reduce dependence on the United States (USA) dollar, a more frequent use of the Yuan currency as a means of payment and pricing.
In the first half of 2025, China’s Central Bank released data, which suggests that cross-border yuan use rose by about 35 trillion yuan, reaching %14. This rise is not only a sign of the value of the currency but also a change in behaviour in global trade. Thus, by becoming an increasingly accepted alternative in many countries around the world, it is understood that Yuan creates a significant shift in payment preferences, especially among BRI states.
Behind this rise in the demand for yuan, there are the strategic preferences of institutional actors and the long-term policy steps taken by China. For example, Chinese companies operating in different sectors have started to price a significant part of their international orders in Yuan; some companies have also recorded a %10 of their total orders directly in Yuan and have a significant reduction in their financing costs.
This trend has not only been limited to China-based manufacturers, but Belt and Road countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Pakistan, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia have been among the countries that prefer to pay in yuan currency. It is clear that these states consider this currency a rational option, both because of the stability of financial operations and because of competitive interest rates. In addition, Chinese officials stress that the yuan’s appeal has increased even more thanks to lower financing costs and flexibility in maturities.1
These developments reveal that the strategy of internationalizing the yuan currency, which China has put into practice since the end of the 2000s, has yielded a tangible result. Top pilot applications with cross-border Chinese currency, which was launched in 2009 and the establishment of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone became critical points of market creation. The money exchange (swap) lines established by the Central Bank of China with approximately 40 countries, the transaction of official banks authorized by the Central Bank of China in 27 countries abroad and the volume of infrastructure loans provided under the Belt and Road increased the circulation rate of the yuan.2 These steps point to a multidimensional policy architecture that is changing both economic interactions and geopolitical balances.
The market outlook between 2024 and 2025 confirms that the yuan is more strongly integrated into the global financial system. At the end of 2023, the yuan’s share in global trade finance has reached %6; this rate has tripled since 2020. During the same period, the use of yuan in China’s foreign trade increased to %26, and it was seen that the preference for the yuan currency in energy and the raw material trade, especially with Russia, increased rapidly. The bilateral agreements in this currency, conducted in a wide geography from Latin America to Southeast Asia, show that this currency has grown far beyond being a regional trade currency into a global solution partner.3
As a result, looking at 2025, it can be considered a critical threshold that marks the beginning of a new era in global trade networks, where the position of the yuan currency in the international financial system is strengthened. The rapid rise of the yuan seems likely to be a harbinger of a multi-currency and multi-centred global economic order in a time period when the absolute dominance of the dollar is questioned. Until 2030, this currency is expected to reach 5-10% of its share in global reserves, find wider use of energy and raw material products, and take the form of a standard payment instrument, especially in the Belt and Road Initiative countries. However, while the use of the yuan seems unlikely to replace the dollar in the near future, given China’s economic weight and international relations, it seems possible that the yuan has become one of the permanent actors in global finance. Exporters and policymakers are therefore required to consider the rising role of the yuan as both an opportunity and an indicator of the evolving global order.
1 “Belt & Road Partners Push Yuan Toward Wider International Use”, Watcher Guru, https://watcher.guru/news/belt-road-partners-push-yuan-toward-wider-international-use, (Access Date: 18.11.2025).
2 “Yuan Internationalisation Accelerates: China Market Trends 2025”, Kaizan Gate, https://gatekaizen.com/yuan-internationalisation-china-market-trends-2025/, (Access Date: 18.11.2025).
3 Ibid.