RMB Photo:VCG

The Chinese yuan surpassed the Japanese yen for the third consecutive month to become the world's fourth most active currency in January, accounting for 4.51 percent of global payments, according to data from global payment services provider Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) on Thursday.

In January 2024, the yuan retained the fourth most active currency for global payments by value, with a 4.51 percent share, according to SWIFT. In December 2023, its share in global payments was 4.14 percent.

It mirrors the steady progress in the yuan's internationalization, the growing appeal of the yuan as a currency for global payments and settlements, combined with a bullish view on the long-term development momentum of China's economy, analysts said.

Overall, yuan payments value increased by 16.32 percent compared to December, while in general all payments currencies increased by 6.88 percent.

In the month, the US dollar remained the world's most-trade currency with a 46.64-percent-share of global payments. The euro, at 23.02 percent, and the pound, at 7.1 percent, were the second and the third most-traded currencies.

The share of the yuan in global payments jumped from 3.6 percent in October to 4.61 percent in November to reach the fourth spot for the first time since January 2022. At that time, the yuan's share stood at 3.2 percent, according to SWIFT data.

In China's cross-border transactions for trade in goods, the proportion of yuan settlements reached 24.4 percent over the first nine months of 2023, up 7 percentage points from the corresponding period in 2022, according to a People's Bank of China report on yuan internationalization.

Global Times