A Chinese bank is promoting a direct payment system between the Myanmar Kyat and the Chinese Yuan it was announced on 25 September.
The “2023 Yangon Branch Golden Autumn RMB Forum” organised by the Bank of China (Hong Kong) in Yangon was aiming to accelerate trade and commodity flows, and facilitate bilateral payments and account clearing between China and Myanmar.
The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar reported that the forum discussed various aspects of its global and Southeast Asia operations as a Chinese Yuan Clearing Bank, including the capital markets and transactions denominated in the Chinese yuan in the financial market.
Nathan Yeung, an official of the Chinese bank, said, “While the leading role of the US dollar has declined, it still plays an important role. China’s economic indicators are improving, and both the US dollar and Chinese Yuan spot rates are rising. These developments suggest that the strength of the Chinese Yuan is increasing.”
Myanmar junta’s Ministry of Commerce announced on 23 June to start banking transactions for imports at the Myanmar-China border on 1 August as the second phase after this system was established to facilitate cross-border trade between Myanmar and Thailand. 
While the Myanmar regime is reducing its reliance on the US dollar, importers are forced to use the banking system with foreign currencies—yuan and baht—purchased from local banks or export earnings. 
However, local border trade merchants have raised concerns about the instability of the junta’s trade policy, and the new system will impede their ability to pay for imports. 
After the military coup in February 2021, China has become one of Myanmar’s largest trade partners.
The report of the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, a nongovernmental think tank, in August this year, said that the trade gap between Myanmar’s regime and the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) was nearly US$17 billion in the 2022-23 financial year. 
The figure from Myanmar indicated that its trade with China was valued at more than $9 billion in the same financial year. 
Myanmar's total foreign trade in 2022-2023 was valued at approximately $34 billion, accounting for more than 27 percent of the total value of foreign trade, followed by Thailand with $6 billion and Singapore with $4 billion.