The International Monetary Fund included yuan in the Special Drawing Rights Basket. IMF acknowledged the weight of Chinese economy and that yuan is broadly used in international settlements and actively traded on the main currency markets – Bnews.KZ reports.

The yuan is taken into account while estimating the IMF “money” rate (Special Drawing Rights, SDR), which are included in the composition of international reserves of all large global economies and used while disbursing the loans by the Fund. In the IMF’s basket, the yuan’s weight is estimated as 11 percent versus 42 for dollar, 31 for euro and 8 percent for yen and pound sterling.  

The well-known US investor Jim Rogers considers that if IMF includes the Chinese yuan into the basket of Special Drawing Rights, it can affect the leading position of the dollar.

“Though, 15 years ago very few people knew about such currency as yuan, today it is “one of the most important in the world”, he told. Rogers qualifies yuan as the one of the dominating currencies, assuming that its significance will only grow in the near future. According to him, yuan is the only currency, capable to argue with dollar for the status of the global reserve currency.

The last time the new currency was included in SDR basket in 1999. Then the newly created euro currency was included into the basket.

“The inclusion of yuan into SDR is the important stage of currency internationalization and acknowledgement of success of reforms of the financial sector of China”, according to the statement of the Central Bank of China.

Last year IMF declared that it will add yuan into the basket, because the actual inclusion will not affect the significant impact over financial markets. However, it focuses attention of the international community on the monetary and economic policy of China, because some central banks added yuan in their official reserves.

The critics consider that this step is considerably symbolic, because yuan does not fully comply with the criteria of IMF reserve currency.

The new currency weight is fixed for 5 years. It was estimated based on average exchange rates of these currencies within three months until September 30, 2016. The specific weight of the currency in SDR basket can change due to increase or drop in the currency rate against other currencies.

“The decision of the Managing Board to include yuan into SDR basket is the important benchmark in integration of Chinese economy into global financial system”, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.