IMF looks again at including the yuan in the SDR basket

Tokyo

THE International Monetary Fund is about to launch a review of whether China's renminbi should be included (along with the US dollar, the euro, the yen and the pound) in the basket of currencies that make up the IMF's special "fiat" currency known as Special Drawing Rights or SDRs.

Inclusion of the renminbi would mean recognition of the fast-growing role of the Chinese currency in Asian and global trade as well as in international capital transactions, and would have considerable "prestige" as well as practical value for China, economists say.

A staff working paper issued by the IMF as the review is about to begin suggests that the Washington-based organisatio…