Indonesia begins to embrace China’s yuan as trade and belt and road projects fuel uptake

  • An estimated US$2.7 billion’s worth of the country’s international trade was paid for using China’s currency in the first six months of this year
  • China has emerged as Indonesia’s largest trading partner over the past decade and is its second-biggest source of foreign direct investment

A person holds a stack of Chinese yuan bank notes. Photo: Shutterstock
The use of China’s yuan in Indonesia has been gaining momentum in recent years on the back of infrastructure projects linked to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and the growing number of Indonesian companies doing business with those in China.
Over the past decade, China has emerged as Indonesia’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$79.4 billion in 2019 – a tenfold increase on the figure in 2000, according to data provided to The Jakarta Post by Xiao Qian, the Chinese ambassador to the country.
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