Chinese yuan Photo:VCG

The People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, is planning to issue a new round of offshore yuan bills in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) at a record scale in January to expand the supply of high-credit-rating yuan-denominated bonds, CCTV reported on Tuesday.

The report said that the new round of bills is not a rollover but a fresh issuance at the largest scale to date, signaling PBC's firm stance on stabilizing the yuan's exchange rate.

The issuance of offshore bills will help adjust the liquidity of offshore yuan, stabilize market expectations and the offshore yuan exchange rate, enrich the range of high-credit-rating yuan-denominated financial products in Hong Kong and promote the yuan's internationalization, according to the report.

PBC issued 12 rounds of central bank bills in the HKSAR in 2024, with a total value of 275 billion yuan ($37.54 billion), official data showed.

The central parity rate of the yuan weakened by 3 pips to 7.1879 against the US dollar on Tuesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. Data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Tuesday revealed that China's foreign currency reserves hit $3.2024 trillion as of the end of 2024. 

Zou Lan, an official from the PBC, said China will keep the exchange rate of the yuan basically stable at an adaptive and balanced level.

Global Times