Cash delivery boosts Chinese currency in Cambodia

(China Plus) Cambodia's first cross-border cash delivery of Chinese currency renminbi (RMB) has been completed, representing a milestone for the RMB's full circulation in Cambodia, China Youth Daily reports.

Cambodia's government is keen to double the number of Chinese tourists visiting the country by 2020. To that end, it is encouraging the use of the RMB within Cambodia.

It also marks a further step in the internationalisation of the Chinese currency.

Cambodia's central bank has listed the RMB as one of its reserve currencies, and will gradually allow commercial banks to do business using RMB cash deposits and withdrawals after piloting the business in the resort town of Siem Reap.

Cambodia has become an important tourist destination for Chinese tourists. China now ranks the second largest source of visitors to Cambodia after Vietnam. About 830,000 Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in 2016, a 19.5-percent rise year-on-year. The RMB has become the third currency in circulation after US dollar and Cambodian riel.

Source: China Plus by Zhang Xu