RMB's inclusion in Special Drawing Right Basket

On November 30, 2015 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the inclusion of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) in the Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket as a fifth currency, along with the US dollar, the euro, Japanese yen and the British pound. Effective from October 1, 2016, the RMB became a “global currency” in a real sense.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, hailed the RMB’s inclusion in the SDR basket as “an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system.” “It is also recognition of the progress that the Chinese authorities have made in the past years in reforming China’s monetary and financial systems,” she said at the launch of the new SDR basket.

The SDR is a supplementary international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969. It is the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations, known as “paper gold.” Once a country’s currency is added to the basket, it will become a global currency. The RMB’s inclusion was the first time the IMF had added the currency of an emerging economy as a reserve currency. This greatly enhances the RMB’s status among international currencies.

The RMB’s inclusion in the SDR basket was a result of decades of reform and opening up of China’s financial sector. It showed the international community’s recognition of China’s composite strength and reform and opening up. It also marked a starting point for the Chinese financial system to further integrate into the international economic and financial system and take up new duties and obligations. It would spur China’s internal financial reform and opening of capital accounts.

人民幣納入特別提款權

當地時間2015年11月30日，國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）決定將人民幣納入特別提款權（SDR）貨幣籃子，SDR貨幣籃子相應擴大至美元、歐元、人民幣、日元、英鎊5種貨幣，2016年10月1日正式生效，人民幣成為真正的“世界貨幣”。IMF總裁拉加德在發布會上表示：“人民幣進入SDR將是中國經濟融入全球金融體系的重要里程碑，這也是對中國政府在過去幾年在貨幣和金融體系改革方面所取得的進步的認可。”SDR是IMF在1969年創設的一種輔助國際儲備資產，是IMF和其他一些國際組織的記賬單位，中文名叫特別提款權，又稱“紙黃金”。一國貨幣如果成為特別提款權構成貨幣，那么將被認為是世界貨幣。人民幣加入SDR是IMF首次將一個新興經濟體貨幣作為儲備貨幣，將大大提升人民幣在國際貨幣舞臺的地位。

人民幣加入SDR是中國金融體系歷經幾十年改革開放不懈努力的結果，既是國際社會對中國綜合國力和改革開放成效的肯定與認可，也是中國金融體系進一步融入國際經濟金融體系、承擔新的責任與義務的起點，將進一步推動中國國內金融改革以及資本項目開放進程。