The yuan bounced back to be the fifth most-active currency for global payments in July because of a big fall in the use of other currencies, global transaction service provider Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) announced on Wednesday.
The yuan's market share increased to 1.9 percent in July from 1.72 percent in June. While overall yuan payments declined by 0.68 percent from June, payments in all currencies fell by 10.08 percent, SWIFT said.
The first four currencies were the U.S. dollar, the euro, sterling and the yen, according to SWIFT.
The Chinese currency fell to sixth place in April as a volatile foreign exchange rate and China's sluggish economy dampened foreign investors' appetite for yuan-denominated assets.
Also, the yuan payments in South Africa increased by 65 percent over the past 12 months and 112 percent in the past two years, according to the SWIFT data.
Nearly 40 percent of yuan payments by South African institutions were offshore payments with countries other than China, compared with 16 percent a year earlier.
China and representatives from 50 African countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote China-Africa cooperation in December 2015.
The MOU is expected to increase commercial exchanges between China and Africa and to boost yuan volumes.
