Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Friday that the IMF staff has proposed the Executive Board to include the Chinese currency, the RMB, into its special drawing right (SDR) currency basket as a fifth currency and she supports it.
IMF staff assesses that the RMB meets the requirements to be a "freely usable" currency and, accordingly, the staff proposes that the Executive Board determine the RMB to be freely usable and include it in the SDR basket as a fifth currency, along with the British pound, euro, Japanese yen, and the U.S. dollar, the IMF chief said in a statement.
"I support the staff's findings. The decision, of course, on whether the RMB should be included in the SDR basket rests with the IMF's Executive Board. I will chair a meeting of the Board to consider the issue on November 30," said Lagarde.
