IMF official lauds RMB joining elite world currencies

The inclusion of the Chinese currency into the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights basket will not only help China's financial reforms but the evolution of the international financial system, according to IMF officials and think-tank economists.

Zhang Tao, the new deputy managing director of the IMF, said inclusion of the Chinese currency, the renminbi, makes the composition of the SDR basket more representative of the currencies being traded in the world.

"The RMB's inclusion will make it more attractive as an international currency, contributing to greater risk diversification," Zhang told a forum on Chinese economics on Wednesday at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.