Chinese yuan Photo:VCG

 
China's central bank said on Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on setting up yuan clearing arrangements in Brazil with the Central Bank of Brazil.

The establishment of yuan clearing arrangements in Brazil will help Chinese and Brazilian firms and financial institutions with cross-border transactions using the yuan, further facilitating bilateral trade and investment, the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, said in a concise statement on its website.

The latest yuan clearing plan followed a slew of similar arrangements as the Chinese currency takes on a bigger role in the global foreign exchange market. 

The PBC announced in November the signing of a yuan clearing arrangement MOU in Pakistan, after deals were revealed in September for such arrangements in Laos and Kazakhstan. 

By the end of 2021, the PBC had authorized 27 overseas yuan clearing banks in 25 countries and regions, according to figures from a 2022 report on the yuan's internationalization.

In a fresh sign of global clout, the yuan retained its position as the fifth most active currency for global payments in value terms in December 2022, accounting for 2.15 percent of the total, per newest data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). 

As measured by global payments excluding that within the eurozone, the Chinese currency held the seventh spot on global rankings with a share of 1.47 percent in December, SWIFT statistics showed.