“The International Monetary Fund pushed back until Sept. 30, 2016, the date that China’s yuan could be included in its basket of reserve currencies,” Bloomberg reports.
The news agency said the following:
The executive board, which represents the IMF’s 188 member nations, voted Aug. 11 to extend the composition of the fund’s Special Drawing Rights for nine months, the Washington-based fund said Wednesday in a statement. IMF staff in July had recommended the extension to minimize disruption if the board decides to add the yuan to the basket, which includes the U.S. dollar, euro, yen and British pound.
In a separate report released Wednesday, the IMF said:
While the board is currently expected to complete the review in November 2015, staff sees merit in agreeing now on a limited extension of the current valuation basket.
The offshore yuan fell as much as 0.4% in U.S. hours following the release of the board’s decision.
Mike Moran, head of economic research for the Americas at Standard Chartered Bank in New York said:
The headline poses a slight disappointment.
The IMF also said the limited extension of the current valuation basket would facilitate the
continued smooth functioning of SDR-related operations and responds to feedback from SDR users on the desirability of avoiding changes in the basket at the end of the calendar year.
According to RT, Beijing offered to add the yuan to the currency basket last year. Commenting on the issue, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde said in March that the yuan’s incorporation is
not a question of if, it’s a question of when.
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