The renminbi’s creeping internationalisation: the boiling frog fable

China’s recent efforts to revive talks with Saudi Arabia on pricing crude oil in renminbi have increased the market’s focus on moves to internationalise the renminbi and promote the usage of the Chinese crossborder payments system. If major oil producing countries were to price some oil trades in renminbi, other countries may follow. This could sharply increase the volume and scope of using the renminbi in international payments, threatening the US dollar’s status as a global currency in the longer term.