Moody’s: Global RMB penetration improve

BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) — Offshore RMB-denominated bonds are likely to see the offering scale grow moderately in 2015, though offshore issues declined year on year in the first quarter due to the drop of onshore interest rates, a Moody’s report said on Tuesday.

China’s “Belt and Road” initiative and the establishment of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) further strengthened the role of RMB it played in cross-border transactions and investment, said Ivan Chung, a Moody’s senior vice president.

“Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund’s impending decision on whether to include RMB in the special drawing rights (SDR) basket will be a milestone to the internationalization of RMB and will help increase investors’ allocations of RMB-denominated assets,” added Chung.

In terms of China’s onshore bond market, Moody’s pointed out in its report that the first public bond default in March 2014 and the three default cases in May and June of 2015 showed the Chinese regulators had increased their tolerance on default and would make market play a decisive role in debt restructuring in the future. Enditem