##33. 4 billion, while import from brazil reached usd52 billion, making a total turnover of usd85. 4 billion in 2012. the economic development forecast reflects the commitment of china in global economic development, which has injected vitality to motivate the growth of the world economy. 7. as aforementioned, china has transformed into a significant importing country. in the process of trade activities, it should have more say in picking the settlement currency for the transactions, through which more frequent use of rmb in crossborder transaction can be facilitated. the process of the internationalization of the rmb can thus be enhanced. in july 2009, the people ’ s bank of china and relevant ministries of the state council of china jointly promulgated the “ management of cross - border rmb trade settlement pilot programme ”, which was a pivotal step of the endeavour to promote the internationalization of the rmb. with the incessant expansion of the pilot units, virtually all mainland enterprises which are qualified to import and export can have a free hand in using the rmb to settle all transactions with their trade partners globally. the macau special administrative region ( msar ) and its banking system 8. macau is a special administrative region of china. since its return to the motherland on 20 december 1999, the overall economy of macao has been expanding at a compound rate of 12. 4 % p. a. in 2012, per capita income exceeded usd76, 000. macao is always an advocate of free market system, there is no exchange control ; the financial markets and institutions operate freely ; there is free flow of funds into and out of the msar, which together laid down the foundation of its fine system. there are 29 banks operating in the macao banking system. they are of different origins : mainland china, chinese taiwan, hksar, singapore, the us, the uk and portugal. as of april 2013, rmb deposits in macao accounts for about 10 % of the deposits in the banking system. there is a marked progress in the rmb cross - border trade settlement despite a slow start. cross - border trade settlement transacted in 2011 increased substantially by 10 times from 2010 and the value in 2012 continued to record an increase of over 60 %. in the first quarter this year, the substantial growth continued ; the value of cross - border trade settlement rose by almost 80 % and already reached 40 % that of last year. bis central bankers ’ speeches 9. rm

trade, i. e. trade actually not involving reserve currency - issuing countries. therefore, there is plenty of room for alternative currencies to grow, especially in terms of use in bilateral trade between emes themselves. 4. currencies of major emes, in particular the renminbi ( rmb ), the currency of the second largest economy in the world by gdp and international trade, have exhibited their potential to broaden their use in international transactions. such a lasting phenomenon of re - balancing not only allows the international circulation of regional currencies to better reflect their countries ’ increasing proportion to international trade and economic gravity, but also lessen monetary shocks spilt over from advanced economies to emes. 5. according to global economic statistics, the us is the biggest economy in the world. its gdp in 2012 amounted to usd15. 7 trillion. china ranked second as the gdp in 2012 went up to usd8. 2 trillion, equivalent to 52. 2 % of that of the us while japan bis central bankers ’ speeches ranked third. an analysis of the import / export value of these three nations will produce another set of more convincing data. the us imports about usd2. 3 trillion annually while china ’ s import has risen to usd1. 8 trillion yearly. it is worth mentioning that china has all along been a big export country. the increase in import purports enhancement of its national might and increasing demand arising from its consumer market. the third biggest global economy japan has an annual import of only usd880 billion, less than half of china ’ s figure. the country which closely follows china in this respect is germany with an annual import of usd1. 2 trillion. 6. from the above, we can see that china, as one of the emerging markets, is gradually changing its role in the international trade from “ world factory ” of manufactured goods for export to an important import country in the world. it was announced in a recent international forum that in the next five years, china would import goods valued at about usd10 trillion, while overseas investment would amount to usd500 billion. outbound visitors from china would reach 400 million. on the other hand, trade between china and latin america reached usd241. 5 billion in 2011, twenty times that of the year 2000. it is forecasted that it will reach usd400 billion in five years ’ time. being the number one trading partner of brazil, china ’ s export to brazil reached usd