The paper provides a summary of Chinese involvement in the Caribbean then proceeds to explain how international payments are conducted in Renminbi (RMB).

As an IMF reserve currency, the renminbi is now in the IMF’s special drawing rights (SDR) basket, which determines currencies that countries can receive as part of IMF loans. The other currencies in the basket are the US dollar, the euro, the yen and British pound.

The paper also explores the benefits and risks of using the Renminbi in the Caribbean and provides insight into existing examples of the use of RMB in commercial trade between the People’s Republic of China and Suriname, a CDB Borrowing member country (BMC) that leads the Caribbean in RMB use.