IMF Declared China's Renminbi as Main World Currency

www.newsbharati.com IMF Declared China's Renminbi as Main World Currency.



China’s Renminbi Is Approved by I.M.F. as a Main World Currency 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. FROM OUR ADVERTISERS 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 I.M.F. designation. But the path to the I.M.F. decision, a bumpy process that stretches back years, also introduced new uncertainty into China’s economy and financial system. To meet the I.M.F. 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 I.M.F. 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 I.M.F. 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 I.M.F., 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. The I.M.F. decision also says a lot about the waning influence of Europe: The renminbi is mainly replacing part of the euro’s role in the special drawing rights. Assessing currencies for the accounting system, the fund put a greater emphasis on their different roles in international finance. The dollar still dominates in finance and trade, while the renminbi is quickly gaining ground on the euro. The United States Treasury said it “supported” the I.M.F. decision. Besides its symbolic weight, the I.M.F. label, which will take effect at the end of September next year, carries specific benefits. The renminbi will become one of the currencies used in the disbursement and repayment of international bailouts denominated in the fund’s accounting unit, like Greece’s debt deal. The renminbi’s new status “will improve the international monetary system and safeguard global financial stability,” President Xi Jinping of China said in mid-November. While the renminbi may gain favor internationally, the I.M.F. designation does not mean that China’s economic overhaul is complete. China maintains heavy regulatory control over the country’s financial system. The country also falls short in legal protections, with the Communist Party continuing to play a strong role in deciding court cases. Such issues could limit the overall appeal of the renminbi — and China’s ambitions. “It is a historic moment in international finance for an emerging market economy, with a per-capita income barely a quarter that of other reserve currency economies, to be anointed as the issuer of one of the world’s major reserve currencies,” said Eswar Prasad, a former head of the I.M.F.’s China division who is now the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University. But “the most likely scenario is that the renminbi will erode but not seriously rival the dollar’s status as the dominant global reserve currency.” The changing currency dynamics also create new geopolitical concerns. As the renminbi becomes more deeply woven into the global economy, it undermines the ability of the West to impose financial sanctions on countries accused of human rights abuses and other violations, like Sudan and North Korea. Such countries can increasingly carry out transactions in renminbi.