Argentina to allow lenders to open customer accounts in yuan, share of yuan in FX market hit record 28%

>>REAL-TIME UPDATES IN THE WIRE. CLICK HERE<<<

Argentina will allow commercial banks in the country to open customer accounts in the yuan amid an acute shortage of dollar reserves.

The country’s central bank said it had granted banks permission to take deposits in yuan, while it’s increasing its yuan sales almost daily to finance imports. That follows last week’s approval by the country’s securities regulator CNV to permit issuance of securities in the local market that settle in the yuan.

Use of the Chinese currency in Argentina’s foreign exchange market is at a record thanks to an expanded swap line with Beijing and as dollar liquidity has dried up. The share of yuan in the foreign exchange market has already reached a record 28% of total transactions in a trading day, according to data from Mercado Abierto Electrónico.