China is set to advance high-level financial opening-up and promote the internationalization of the yuan, expanding its role in global trade and investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
At a State Council Information Office press conference on the afternoon of September 10, senior officials detailed plans to implement the 15th Five-Year Plan for building a financial superpower. Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China Lu Lei, along with officials from the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered questions from reporters.
Lu Lei announced that the "15th Five-Year Plan for Building a Financial Superpower" has been officially released. The central bank has also issued a supporting reform and development plan along with nine action plans, outlining core reform priorities across three dimensions: upgrading the monetary policy framework, enhancing precision support for the real economy, and advancing yuan internationalization.
A key focus is accelerating the transformation of the monetary policy framework. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the central bank will further refine the modern monetary policy framework with Chinese characteristics, making objectives, tools, and transmission mechanisms more scientific and forward-looking. The central bank will steadfastly maintain currency stability and promote economic growth, gradually reducing reliance on quantity-based intermediate targets while strengthening the role of interest rate regulation.
Regarding policy tools, the central bank will improve the base money supply mechanism, refine the reserve requirement system, enhance the guiding power of policy rates, and optimize the design of structural monetary policy tools. In terms of transmission, emphasis will be placed on improving monetary policy communication and expectation management, strengthening macro policy coordination, and promoting dynamic equilibrium among multiple objectives.
On the exchange rate front, despite increased volatility in the US dollar index since 2026, the yuan has demonstrated an independent trend of strengthening even as the dollar gains. In the first eight months, both the onshore yuan spot rate and the CFETS yuan index appreciated by 4%. Lu Lei stressed that China adheres to a managed floating exchange rate system and has no intention of gaining trade advantages through currency depreciation. As the export structure upgrades, enterprises have enhanced their pricing power and exchange rate risk management capabilities, significantly reducing trade sensitivity to exchange rates.
Beyond the exchange rate, the central bank continues to optimize structural financial regulation systems. By lowering structural tool interest rates, expanding coverage, and strengthening fiscal-monetary coordination, it aims to improve financial support for key areas. As of the end of June, the balance of related structural tools reached 4.6 trillion yuan, with loans to key areas growing 10.9% year-on-year. Lending growth in technology, green, inclusive, elderly care, and digital finance sectors all exceeded the average growth rate for total loans.
Looking ahead, the central bank will further improve institutional systems, optimize the structure of fund supply, strengthen inter-departmental coordination, and enhance platform support to boost the quality and efficiency of financial services for the real economy.
Yuan internationalization is being advanced on multiple fronts. Currently, the yuan's application in trade settlement is increasingly mature. From January to July this year, total cross-border yuan receipts and payments exceeded 50 trillion yuan, with goods trade payments surpassing 9 trillion yuan, accounting for a third of the total, a record high. However, there remains room for growth in international investment and financing as well as reserve asset usage.
Lu Lei pointed out that yuan internationalization requires comprehensive consideration of usage, holding, circulation, offshore markets, and central bank cooperation. For the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the central bank plans to focus on several initiatives: strengthening international monetary and financial cooperation, expanding bilateral local currency settlement and currency swap coverage, optimizing cross-border yuan policy systems to improve trade and investment facilitation, deepening high-level financial market opening by expanding connectivity mechanisms and promoting comprehensive opening of the onshore market, enhancing the function of the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, promoting digital yuan cross-border usage, and supporting differentiated development of offshore yuan markets in Hong Kong, London, Singapore, and Dubai.