Mubasher: China could have the opportunity to see its yuan (CNY) circulated as a global currency, against the backdrop of growing trade tensions, according to People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng.

“Amid frequent trade frictions and rising populism, some countries and regions are emphasising the use of local currency in cross-border settlement, bringing about new opportunities for the yuan’s globalisation,” Bloomberg quoted Pan as saying in an article published on the PBoC-run China Finance magazine’s website.

China’s central bank will seek to boost investor confidence in the yuan, and steadily support the global circulation of the currency, although that would require mostly support from the market.

In the meantime, less than 2% of transactions worldwide are conducted using the Chinese currency, international payment institution Swift was cited by Bloomberg.

This compares with the yuan’s share of 2.79% in August 2015, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to include the currency into its reserve basket.

By 3:29 pm GMT, the USD/CNY pair ticked down by 0.02% to CNY 6.8763.