Recent renminbi policy and currency co-movements

This study investigates how variation in Chinese authorities’ renminbi management since the August 2015 exchange rate reform maps onto variation in the co-movement between the renminbi with regional and other emerging market currencies. We first identify three post-reform periods of RMB management: transition, basket management and countercyclical management. Across these periods, the reaction of the official “fixing” rate to market movements differed significantly. The co-movement with regional and Latin American currencies peaked in the basket period, when the management was most multilateral, making it possible to discern a renminbi zone in this period. By contrast, the decline in co-movement in the countercyclical management period since May 2017 leaves it premature to speak of a renminbi bloc. The dependence of the co-movements on renminbi management has important implications for renminbi internationalisation.