Official data show that 4.99 percent of the $362.2 billion worth of foreign reserves held by the Brazilian central bank at the end of last year was in renminbi, the Macao Daily says.

The renminbi reserves held by the central bank were quadruple their value a year earlier, the newspaper reported last Thursday.

Only reserves held in US dollars and euros accounted for bigger percentages of the foreign reserves, and both proportions shrank, the report says.

It says the changes reflect the growth in the importance of China to the development of the Brazilian economy.

The Brazilian central bank had zero renminbi reserves before 2018, the report says.

World Bank data show that China is the biggest trading partner of Brazil, accounting for 28 per cent of the value of Brazilian foreign trade, the Macao Daily says, without giving the value or the year.