CHINA will accelerate reforms to the country’s currency as part of a push for the yuan’s inclusion in the International Monetary Fund’s currency basket, China’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Saturday.

    In a statement to the steering committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Zhou said that China had made strides toward making the yuan freely convertible, and that it should be included in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) basket.

    China has committed to further open its capital account and liberalize the way the exchange rate for the yuan, or Renminbi (RMB), is managed, including reducing currency market intervention.

    “China is not far from achieving its goal of RMB capital account convertibility,” Zhou said.

    Winning approval for the yuan’s inclusion in the IMF’s currency basket could raise China’s standing in the global financial system and mark an important step in China’s emergence as a global power.

    The United States, the IMF’s top shareholder, has said China’s currency is not yet ready to join the SDR basket. A top IMF official said China does not want to bend the rules in its favor.

    SDRs are international foreign exchange reserve assets. Allocated to nations by the IMF, an SDR represents a claim to foreign currencies for which it may be exchanged in times of need.

    According to the IMF, the selection of currencies for the SDR basket are based on two criteria — the size of the country’s exports and whether its currency is freely useable, and the latter requires a certain degree of capital account convertibility. (SD-Agencies)