China can withstand market volatility: IMF chief

WASHINGTON - International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Wednesday downplayed China's recent market volatility and said Chinese economy is resilient and the slowdown in growth is under control.

"We believe that the Chinese economy is resilient, and strong enough to withstand that kind of significant variation in the markets," she said in an online press conference.

Lagarde pointed out, in a medium-term view, China's the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is still more than 80 percent up from a year ago despite the recent sharp declines.

In response to China's efforts to stabilize the market, the IMF chief said that it's the Chinese authorities' duty to prevent disorderly movements in the markets.

"The fact that they (Chinese authorities) want to maintain a level of liquidity as well that is commensurate with an orderly process is also quite good," said Lagarde.

She said that the market turmoil wouldn't derail the IMF's discussion on whether to include the renminbi, or the yuan, in its special drawing rights basket of currencies.

"We are very comforted by that determination (of Chinese authorities) to deliver on the reforms, which will be conducive, one day, when the times comes, once all the signals are checked positively, to the renminbi being included in the special drawing rights basket," she said.