China's Renminbi Joins Elite Club of Currencies

Hong Kong: The Chinese renminbi was anointed as one of the world's elite currencies on Monday, a milestone decision by the International Monetary Fund that underscores the country's rising financial and economic heft.

The move will help pave the way for broader use of the renminbi in trade and finance, securing China's standing as a global economic power. Just four other currencies - the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen - have the IMF designation.

But the path to the IMF decision, a bumpy process that stretches back years, also introduced new uncertainty into China's economy and financial system.

To meet the IMF requirements, China was forced to give up some of its tight control over the currency, culminating in the abrupt devaluation of the renminbi that shook global markets in August. The changes could inject fresh volatility into the country, at a time when its economy is already slowing.

The IMF designation, an accounting unit known as the special drawing rights, bestows global importance.

Many central banks follow this benchmark in measuring their reserves, which countries hold to help protect their economies in times of trouble. By adding the renminbi to this group, the IMF effectively says that it considers the currency to be safe, reliable and freely usable.

It is a "recognition of the progress that the Chinese authorities have made in the past years in reforming China's monetary and financial systems," Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, said in a statement in Washington. "The continuation and deepening of these efforts will bring about a more robust international monetary and financial system, which in turn will support the growth and stability of China and the global economy."

The designation is a point of pride for Beijing, which had made it one of its highest economic policy priorities.

In the months before the fund's decision, China moved aggressively to expand the currency's standing on a global stage, building trading hubs in Europe and developing a raft of renminbi-denominated bonds and commodity contracts. In devaluing the currency, China changed the way it sets the value of the renminbi each morning, allowing market forces to play a bigger role.

@ 2015 New York Times News Service