“Minister Marcelo Montenegro and the president of the Central Bank of Bolivia, Edwin Rojas, meet with the president of the Interbank and Cross-Border Payment System (…), Hongbo Wang (…)”, confirmed the Bolivian Ministry of Economy and Public Finance on its social networks regarding the meeting held this Friday.
The text reported that during the talks, the implementation of this payment system was addressed as a new channel for financial operations in Chinese currency (yuan or renminbi) that can benefit those who carry out trade or other transactions with the Asian nation.
The CIPS is a payment system that offers clearing and settlement services for its participants in cross-border transfers and payments in Chinese currency.
According to a report by the BCB, this payment system arises from the need to transfer money to carry out operations directly between people, companies (public or private) and governments, or with the intervention of financial entities.
According to the authorities, Bolivia is targeting these operations with yuans due to its extensive trade relationship with China, mainly in imports. The bilateral trade relationship gained momentum since 2011, when exports exceeded 300 million dollars and imports 1 billion dollars.