The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced on Saturday that China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be going ahead as planned as the country struggles to recover from the Covid-19 epidemic.
The PBoC held a “Quarterly Financial Statistics Data Presentation” on Friday, according to Sina Finance.
Furthermore, the PBoC said it was implementing various financial policies in response to the recovery of the economy. So far, a total of 3.3 million yuan (approximately $45.4 billion) worth of related measures have been implemented, Coin Idol reported.
Increasing use of digital payments
As the coronavirus epidemic has accelerated global digitization, people are increasingly interested in the PBoC’s plans for the issuance and circulation of the digital yuan. Responding to a query related to the CBDC during the public briefing, Zhou Xuedong, director and spokesperson of the PBoC, said: “Regarding digital currencies, the central bank will proceed in an orderly manner as planned.”
Zhou added, “Nowadays, more than 95% of daily micropayments are realized through mobile payments or Internet payments. China has certain advantages in this regard. If the digital economy can become a new economic development bright spot, the research and development requirements for digital currencies will become higher and higher.”
This article was first published in Asia Times.
