China’s money-printing industry is running at "full steam" for foreign clients, including Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Brazil, and Poland, according to reports. "A nation must have considerable trust in the Chinese government to allow it to print its banknotes," Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the South China Morning Post.

Money-printing plants across China are running at close to full capacity to meet an unusually high quota set by the government this year, multiple sources from the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation told the South China Morning Post.

Chinese yuan notes made up "a small proportion of the orders," with most of the demand coming from countries participating in China's Belt and Road Initiative, one source who asked not to be named told the South China Morning Post.

Two years later China began printing money for Nepal, and today foreign customers of China's industry now also reportedly include Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Brazil, and Poland as well as possibly others that have not been disclosed, a source in the corporation said.

The state-owned China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, which is headquartered in Beijing's Xicheng district, describes itself as the world's largest money printer by scale with 18,000 employees and 10 plants for printing paper notes and coins.

Its US counterpart, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, employs fewer than 2,000 people.

Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the South China Morning Post that a nation must have considerable trust in the Chinese government to allow it to print its banknotes.

"The world economic landscape is undergoing some profound changes," he said. "As China becomes bigger and more powerful, it will challenge the value system established by the West. Printing money for other countries is an important step."

He added: "Currency is a symbol of a country's sovereignty. This business helps build trust and even monetary alliances."

>> Read More