“The Chinese currency, the renminbi, is not terribly well known at the moment, but over my lifetime it’s going to become almost as familiar as the US dollar.” So said George Osborne during a recent visit to Shanghai.
At first glance, this might seem unrealistic. The renminbi is hardly a global investment currency and barely registers on central bank balance sheets. So any change would require a profound shift in the financial landscape.
Yet the renminbi is evolving at a remarkable pace. As a medium of exchange and unit of account, it is on course to acquire international status in three years; in 10, it may unseat the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.