Qatar hasn’t been playing ball with the US-approved, Saudi-led ‘isolate Iran’ program. Partly because Doha has made independence from Riyadh a hallmark of its foreign policy, but mostly because Qatar and Iran share the world’s largest natural gas field. US President Donald Trump’s speech to the assembled Gulf leaders in …

China’s forex regulator is telling banks to keep its instructions about curbing capital outflows secret and to ensure that research analysts keep any negative views about the yuan’s prospects to themselves, several bankers said. Both demands are seen as an attempt by the authorities to prevent alarm that could trigger …

A gold-backed ruble and gold-backed yuan could start a ‘snowball exit’ from dollar F. William Engdahl notes, adding that it will diminish America’s ability to use the reserve dollar role to finance Washington’s perpetual overseas wars. The irony of the situation is that the central banks of China, Russia, Brazil and other …

From Filip Karinja, for Birch Gold Group The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to meet in just over a week – on November 30 – to discuss what will almost certainly see the Chinese yuan added to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currency basket. IMF Chief Christine Lagarde has already …

China’s currency, the yuan seems to be on track to be included in the International Monetary Fund‘s benchmark currency basket, putting it on par with the dollar, euro and pound sterling. A draft report by IMF staff who have been assessing the yuan’s technical criteria seems to be favourable. Three …

From Filip Karinja, for Birch Gold Group Former President George Bush is famous for once saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.” Most of us know that it’s supposed to end, “Fool me twice, shame on me.” But what’s said when you get fooled …

China stunned the world’s financial markets on Wednesday by devaluing the yuan for the second consecutive day, triggering fears that the world’s second largest economy is in worse shape than investors believed. The move sent fresh shockwaves through global markets, pushing shares sharply lower and sending commodity prices further into reverse …

China plans to launch a yuan-denominated gold fix by the end of 2015 via the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), in a move aimed at giving the world’s biggest bullion producer and consumer more influence over pricing. The first public confirmation made by an exchange official comes after Reuters cited sources …

From Filip Karinja, for Birch Gold Group This week the petrodollar was struck with a mighty blow. Russia’s third largest oil producer, Gazprom, announced that it will settle all crude sales to China in yuan, and thus officially ditch the dollar. With relations between China and Russia growing stronger by the day, …

From Filip Karinja As the US dollar’s reign as global reserve currency appears to be ending, are we seeing the beginning of a new dawn in the east? Throughout history, global reserve currencies have proven to last for only so long. Before the United States’ currency reigned supreme, the currencies of …

The Chinese central bank, People’s Bank of China, issued a press release announcing the authorization of direct trading between the renminbi and the euro on the inter-bank foreign exchange market. This is huge. The euro is the second most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar. The European Union is …

Argentina will receive the first tranche of yuan worth up to $1 billion in a massive currency swap with China before the end of this year. The deal will boost the troubled economy’s foreign reserves. It comes as part of a loan worth $11 billion signed in July by Argentina’s …

The BRICS New Development Bank will name its first investment in April next year and the first loan will be issued in yuan not dollar, top officials confirmed. The first president of the Bank, Kundapur Vaman Kamath said in Shanghai that the new lender will work closely with the China-led …

China is calling for a global currency to replace the dominant dollar, showing a growing assertiveness on revamping the world economy ahead of next week’s London summit on the financial crisis. The surprise proposal by Beijing’s central bank governor reflects unease about its vast holdings of U.S. government bonds and …

China is moving forward with a plan to create its own version of the World Bank, which will rival institutions that are under the sway of the US and the West. The bank will start with $100 billion in capital. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will extend China’s financial …

China is buying crude oil from Iran using its currency the yuan, an Iranian diplomat has said. Oil transactions are usually settled in dollars but US sanctions make it difficult for Iran to accept payments in the US currency. China is promoting the usage of the yuan as a rival …

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) could start operations by borrowing in the Chinese currency, according to the bank’s Vice President Vladimir Kazbekov. He says the bank will focus on loans in the national currencies of the bank’s potential customers. “Considering the stability of the Chinese currency and the scale …

China took another step to boost the yuan’s global usage, saying it will start direct trading with the Swiss franc, as the nation pushes its case for reserve-currency status at the International Monetary Fund. The link will start on Tuesday, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System said in a statement, making …

China launched the first phase of its China International Payment System (CIPS) in Shanghai on Thursday, allowing cross-border transactions in the Chinese national currency, the yuan. CIPS’ first phase provides clearing and settlement services, according to the People’s Bank of China announcement. Its launch is said to remove hurdles to the yuan’s internationalization by reducing transaction costs and processing …

From Filip Karinja, for Birch Gold Group The ongoing internationalization of the Chinese yuan got a major boost this week with the London Metal Exchange (LME) now accepting the currency as collateral against contracts. This follows regulatory approval from the Bank of England, which now allows the LME to accept five currencies as cash …