BEIJING, Dec. 25 -- In 2013, China continued to promote the internationalization of the yuan, or Renminbi, with media and analysts buzzing about the effect of recent reforms on the increasingly global currency.

The country made progress in facilitating RMB-denominated international trade and investment, developing RMB offshore businesses, and establishing more currency swap lines and other financial agreements.

Financial reform measures announced in the last two months by China, especially a 30-point guideline issued by the central bank to support the country's first free trade zone in Shanghai, are set to help speed up RMB internationalization.

Media outlets worldwide hyped the news that the RMB had overtaken the euro and become the second-most used currency in global trade finance. Of much more significance, however, are figures related to actual trade settlement in yuan.

According to global transaction services organization SWIFT, the RMB remained the 12th payments currency in the world, with a mere 0.84 percent share of all global payments in October, even lower than the Thai baht and Swedish krona.

In comparison, the U.S. dollar and the euro accounted for 38.1 percent and 34.7 percent of all global payments, respectively, followed by 9.9 percent for the British pound.

China is the world's second-largest economy after the U.S. It is the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. The international use of the RMB is not at all commensurate with the importance of China's economic status.