Chinese Yuan Devaluation

On 11 August 2015, the People’s Bank of China announced a 1.9 percent devaluation of the Chinese yuan by resetting the daily band within which it is traded. The move by China's central bank generated broad turbulence in global commodity and financial markets and could have important implications for the world’s largest economies. 

Tuesday's adjustment was the largest single-day devaluation since 1994 and comes just over a month ahead of a vote at the IMF to make the renminbi - commonly referred to in international contexts as the yuan - a reserve currency. Chinese officials have supported a strong yuan to make a case for official reserve status in addition to detering capital outlfows, among other factors, according to Western financial analysts.

In today's Viz of the Day, Knoema provides broader context to the decision of the Central Bank with data that highlight trends in Chinese yuan market exchange rates, foreign trade, and other leading indicators and economic variables.

Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO), April 2015; OECD Key Short-Term Economic Indicators, July 2015; WTO Short-term merchandise trade statistics, June 2015; Merchandise trade matrix, exports and imports to world by commodity, annual, 1995-2013. Data on spot exchange rates from the Bank of England database.

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