The drive to internationalize the renminbi has had mixed results so far. After a slow start there was a rapid expansion of the use of the currency for cross-border payments and settlements，and that was followed by the current phase of adjustment. But over the longer term，there is certainly cause for optimism.

According to central bank statistics，cross-border renminbi settlements reached 4.36 trillion yuan and direct investment renminbi settlements stood at 1.64 trillion yuan in 2017. This total included 3.27 trillion yuan of cross-border goods settled in renminbi，and 1.09 trillion yuan of service trade and other current account settlements. Outbound direct investments were 456.88 billion yuan and inbound foreign direct investment reached 1.18 trillion yuan.

If we look at comparisons over the 2015-2017 period，the picture is somewhat disappointing. Annual settlements from cross-border renminbi trade dropped from 7.23 trillion yuan in 2015 to 5.23 trillion yuan in 2016 and 4.36 trillion yuan in 2017. Over the same three-year period renminbi settlements on outbound direct investment rose from 2.32 trillion yuan to 2.46 trillion yuan，and then slipped back to 1.64 trillion yuan. What we can see over this period is that renminbi use in cross-border trade and investment dropped significantly.

According to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT)，the renminbi was the fifth largest payment currency in the world as of December 2015. One year later the renminbi had slipped to sixth place，accounting for 1.68% of the market. In the third quarter of 2017，the renminbi’s share of global payments and settlements was 1.70%.