Hill Ying-hwa: The deposit balance of Hong Kong residents in RMB is about 1.1 trillion yuan, providing liquidity support for global regions including the Belt and Road Initiative.

On April 22, Mr. Edward Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong, responded in writing to the questions raised by Legco Member Mr. Vincent Cheng during a Legco meeting. He stated that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has always adopted a whole-of-government approach. The Belt and Road Office under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau leads and coordinates efforts to deepen Hong Kong's participation and support in the Belt and Road Initiative to promote comprehensive and multi-sectoral connectivity. The 14th Five-Year Plan proposes advancing the internationalization of the Renminbi (RMB) and enhancing the level of capital account opening. Hong Kong will continue to leverage its unique strengths to actively cooperate with national development strategies and further strengthen its function as a global offshore RMB business hub to facilitate the process of RMB internationalization, including actively promoting offshore RMB business to Belt and Road regions and other emerging markets. Mr. Yau mentioned that Hong Kong currently processes around 75% of global offshore RMB payment value and has the largest global offshore RMB liquidity pool. By the end of 2025, Hong Kong's RMB deposit balance (including certificate deposits) was around 1.1 trillion RMB, providing liquidity support for global offshore RMB transactions and financial activities, including those in the Belt and Road regions. In 2025, Hong Kong's RMB real-time payment settlement system had an average daily transaction value of around 2.5 trillion RMB, maintaining a high level, reflecting continued active RMB financial activities supported by Hong Kong's RMB financial infrastructure. The specific number of economies whose importers and exporters settle RMB trade through Hong Kong's payment system and the trade volume data are not currently available. The Secretary also mentioned that the Hong Kong government has successfully issued Islamic bonds under the government bond program in 2014, 2015, and 2017. Furthermore, the government is actively expanding into Middle Eastern and other Belt and Road emerging markets, with various sovereign and quasisovereign entities issuing offshore RMB bonds in Hong Kong for the first time in 2025, and additional issuance activities in 2026. Multilateral development banks such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank continue to issue offshore RMB bonds in Hong Kong, highlighting Hong Kong's increasing attractiveness as a leading offshore RMB bond issuance center. The Belt and Road Office is currently revamping the Belt and Road Hong Kong website to optimize its design and enrich its content to effectively provide information about the Belt and Road Initiative to various stakeholders, including considering suggestions to add other languages to the website.