China and Argentina have agreed to a currency swap that will allow Chinese exporters to receive renminbi instead of US dollars for goods shipped to the Latin American country, the Financial Times reported. The US$10.24 billion swap agreement was signed in Columbia on Sunday by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, and Martin Redrado, president of the Argentine central bank. Since December of last year, China has reached currency swap agreements worth a total of US$95 billion with Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Belarus, Indonesia and now Argentina. The swaps help to unblock trade financing, which has been hit badly by the global financial crisis. According to the World Bank, as much as US$300 billion might be needed to unlock trade credits. An Argentine official said Redrado expressed support for Zhou’s call, made last week, to replace the US dollar with a new currency reserve regime.
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