People's Bank of China hails IMF 'basket' decision

The People's Bank of China said it welcomes the decision on Monday by the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to include the RMB in the currency basket of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) as a fifth currency along with the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

The weight of the RMB in the SDR basket is 10.92 percent; the weights of the dollar, euro, yen and pound are 41.73 percent, 30.93 percent,08.09 percent and 8.33 percent respectively.

The new basket will become effective on Oct 1, 2016. PBOC said in a statement released on Dec 1 that the IMF's call was an acknowledgment of China's economic development, reform and opening up.

"We appreciate the hard work of the IMF management and staff in the SDR review, and the support of fund members," read the statement. "The inclusion of the RMB in the SDR basket will increase the representation and attractiveness of the SDR, and help improve the current international monetary system, which will benefit both China and the rest of the world."

It also means the international community expects China to play a bigger role in the international economic and financial system, the statement continued. China will continue to deepen and to accelerate economic reforms and financial opening up, and contribute to promoting world economic growth, financial stability and global economic governance and improve safeguards, it said.