IMF: Yuan to join basket of world's leading currencies in October 2016

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Monday (30 November 2015) that the Chinese yuan will join a basket of the world's leading currencies, AP news agency reports.

The IMF said that the yuan "met all existing criteria" to be included with the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen and the British pound as one of the currencies used for the global organization's Special Drawing Rights, which serves as a standard for dealing with the financial reserves of its 188 member governments.

China is the world's second largest economy. Currency traders and economists say the move should encourage the government in Beijing to deliver on promises to make the yuan "freely tradable" and to open up its financial system.

The IMF's decision will come into effect in October 2016, AP underlines.