Asia-Pacific · GDP rank #2
China
CN · CNY @ 0.1471/USD
The only major economy where third-party mobile wallets displaced cards as the primary consumer rail. Alipay and WeChat Pay together clear the overwhelming majority of retail volume; UnionPay remains the dominant card network behind the scenes. The e-CNY is the most-piloted retail CBDC in the world but remains a fraction of total flow; the January 2026 framework revision moves it from cash-equivalent toward interest-bearing digital deposit money. State policy since 2020 has reined in big-tech finance and pushed the sector toward regulated, state-supervised infrastructure.
Tab 05
Cross-border
Inbound and outbound remittance corridors, tourism flows, FX markup on retail cross-border, and the country's posture on stablecoin adoption. Corridor figures come from the World Bank RPW feed or the publishing central bank; both are cited when they disagree.
Remittance inflows
USD · 2023
Remittance outflows
USD · 2023
Inbound tourism spend
CNY · 2024
Outbound tourism spend
CNY · 2024
Avg. corridor cost
% · Q4 2024
Net receiver
Top inbound corridors
- United StatesUS$9.2B
via bank
- Hong KongUS$4.1B
via bank
Top outbound corridors
- VietnamUS$2.3B
via bank
Cross-border card
Card flow leaving and arriving
Cards issued domestically and used abroad reflect outbound consumer travel and cross-border e-commerce; volume acquired from abroad reflects inbound tourism and foreign online shoppers.
Issued volume spent abroad
CNY/year · 2024
Acquired volume from abroad
CNY/year · 2024
FX cost
What consumers pay above the interbank
Retail FX markup is the spread between the mid-market rate and the rate the consumer receives — the single largest friction point in small-ticket cross-border.
- FX regime
- managed-float with capital controls
- Reference
- Managed-float against a reference basket; daily ±2% band vs. PBOC central parity
Source · State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE)
Full reference
Remittances
Net Position: receiver
Source: