China retains IMF reserve-currency backing

Paris

CHINA has retained the support of some major economies to win International Monetary Fund recognition of the yuan as a reserve currency, even as an IMF staff report assessed that it hasn't cracked the ranks of the most widely-used global counterparts.

Germany reiterated backing for the status "provided the necessary criteria are met", while Brazil's IMF representative said the yuan is moving towards qualifying and Russia said its view is based on China's position. The comments followed a preliminary IMF staff report on Tuesday saying that the yuan trailed other currencies in measures of global use and that "significant work" in analysing data was needed.