The renminbi exchange rate reform and its implications for Asian markets

Abstract

Up until now, the Renminbi (RMB) reform has been progressing gradually. With the RMB becoming a Special Drawing Right (SDR) component currency, China’s monetary policies will exert significant influence on the international marketplace. The year 2014 witnessed the weakening of the RMB against the U.S. dollar, yet thanks to China’s prudent economic policies, the RMB stopped depreciating further and remained quite stable for the first half of 2015, which benefited not only China itself, but also the United States, Japan, and other Asian economies. Asian markets used to be strongly influenced by the U.S. monetary policy and the performance of the U.S. dollar. However, since the RMB devaluation against U.S. dollar in the summer of 2015, Asian markets have been inclined to move in accordance with the market information from China rather than that from the United States. Although the RMB is not a currency like the euro that has been adopted by a number of countries, it can still exert great impacts on emerging economies in the world. For the RMB to take hold globally, improved fundamentals in emerging economies, an easing in the influence of the RMB-USD exchange rate, and a healthy financial system in China are all necessary. Meanwhile, both China and the United States need to enhance their coordination on macroeconomic policies and guarantee the stability of RMB-USD exchange rate.