JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - International Monetary Fund (IMF) endorses Chinese Remimbi (RMB) for currency basket, said the agency in its latest report.
“A key focus of the Board review is whether the Chinese renminbi, which continues to meet the export criterion for inclusion in the SDR basket, also meets the other existing criterion, that the currency be “freely usable”, which is defined as being “widely used” for international transactions and “widely traded” in the principal foreign exchange market,” Christine Lagarde, Managing Director said in press statement.
The report added that the IMF staff assesses that the RMB meets the requirements to be a “freely usable” currency and, accordingly, the staff proposes that the Executive Board determine the RMB to be freely usable and include it in the SDR basket as a fifth currency, along with the British pound, euro, Japanese yen, and the U.S. dollar.
The staff also finds that the Chinese authorities have addressed all remaining operational issues identified in an initial staff analysis submitted to the Executive Board in July.
“I support the staff’s findings. The decision, of course, on whether the RMB should be included in the SDR basket rests with the IMF’s Executive Board. I will chair a meeting of the Board to consider the issue on November 30,” Lagarde stated. (*)