A reserve currency is not created overnight, if at all. And China’s renminbi won’t be claiming an exclusive title any time soon.
That is the message of a report by law firm Allen & Overy which looks at the funding needs of global companies over the next decade. It finds that, although the renminbi might make strides against the euro and the dollar, there is no easy path to currency domination.
The A&O report asked 1,054 executives globally where they thought the RMB would be in 10 years time. As their chart shows, there is no expectation of a quick march by the RMB into the world’s reserve currency position – rather it points to a multi-polar world with multiple currencies sharing the responsibilities and benefits of reserve status: