KARACHI: A conference was held on Wednesday to update stakeholders on Chinese yuan (CNY) trading and the support provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to facilitate its transactions.

The moot “Avenues and opportunities of International Trade and its settlement in CNY” was jointly organised by the SBP and MCB Bank.

Keynote speaker Muhammad Ali Malik, Executive Director Financial Markets and Reserve Management SBP, underscored the strategic importance of trade between China and Pakistan and how the central banks of both countries were promoting the use of Chinese currency to settle trade transactions between the two countries.

Speakers encouraged customers to explore CNY-denominated trade to determine the pricing advantage/disadvantage in either currency and said that it was quite likely that importers/exporters in China could give better pricing in CNY, as it was their home currency.

The SBP said that it would provide support to banks in terms of providing liquidity and competitive pricing if required for products such as FCY loans, discounting of export bills and forward booking in CNY.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2018