Yuan prospects

A SENIOR South Korean economist said in a report yesterday that the yuan may emerge as a settlement currency in Asia. Park Bun-soon, a senior fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, said trade volume between China and other Asian countries was huge.

He said that if the yuan was used as a settlement currency in the region, the need to hold the US dollar would fall for Asian countries. However, he said it will take time for the Chinese currency to be a global reserve currency.