IMF close to declaring yuan fairly valued: report

A clerk counts yuan bills at a bank in Huaibei, East China's Anhui province. [Photo/IC]

The International Monetary Fund is close to declaring renminbi fairly valued for the first time in more than a decade, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The fund is expected to make its result official in reports due out in the coming months, said the Journal on Sunday.

A special drawing right (SDR) review is also underway, where the IMF will decide whether to include renminbi into the SDR currency basket, said Zhu Min, deputy managing director of the Washington-based organization, earlier in April.

According to the IMF, selections of currencies for the SDR basket are based on two criteria – the size of the country's exports and whether its currency is freely useable.

The SDR, an international reserve asset, currently comprises US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound and euro.

Renminbi has gained popularity across the world, and the currency is expected to account for 10 percent world reserves by 2025, reported Bloomberg citing a survey of central banks carried out in March. Asian monetary authorities are likely to show the most support.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pledged support to renminbi at the launch ceremony of Renminbi Clearing Bank in Malaysia in April, adding that the currency will play a key role in facilitating trade and investment in Southeast Asia.

Related story: IMF's review on inclusion of yuan in SDR basket underway, by Xinhua

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is conducting a comprehensive assessment over the Chinese currency, or yuan, in its special drawing right (SDR) review to decide whether the currency will be included in the SDR currency basket or not, Zhu Min, deputy managing director of the IMF, said on Sunday.

"A serious and comprehensive review on the Chinese currency is underway," Zhu told Xinhua as the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings are drawing to a close.

The SDR, an international reserve asset, currently comprises US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound and euro. Allocated to countries by the IMF, an SDR represents a claim to foreign currencies for which it may be exchanged in times of need.