"Today, November 30, the IMF's executive board decided that the renminbi qualified for the SDR [Special Drawing Rights] basket under existing criteria," Lagarde said.
"The addition and the inclusion of the renminbi in the SDR basket of currencies is a recognition of the significant reforms which have been conducted, of the significant opening up of the Chinese economy, of the financial, more market-driven principles that are being used by the Chinese authorities going forward.
“That is clearly symbolic in a way of all those reforms, which is why I associated the renminbi inclusion with the reforms conducted and to be continued."
Lagarde said this decision is "an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system."
The RMB will be included in the SDR basket as a fifth currency, along with the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound. The inclusion takes effect October 1, 2016.
The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves. It can be exchanged among governments for freely usable currencies in times of need.
