Commentary
Chinese leader Xi Jinping just completed a successful trip to the Middle East. There he stressed trade relations with oil-rich nations, especially Saudi Arabia.
Xi also made clear a strong desire for oil contracts to settle in yuan and not, as usual, in dollars. He made no secret that his goal was to advance Beijing’s ambition for the yuan to eventually replace the dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency. Some day that might happen. If it does, it will take a very long time. Stranger things have happened.
The time reflects the yuan’s present inadequacies. It effectively lacks all three key attributes that any currency needs to lead as a global reserve….