Kenyan central bank chief hails China's entry into IMF's elite currency club

NAIROBI - Kenya's apex bank on Thursday lauded the move by International Monetary Fund (IMF) to add China's yuan to its elite basket of reserve currencies, saying it will increase use of currencies in the international platform.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Patrick Njoroge said the decision by IMF to include renminbi (RMB) alongside the dollar, euro, pound and yen in the fund's reserve-currency basket will make the Chinese currency more visible around the world as one of the major currency to use.

"It is now official that banks globally can use renminbi as a reserve currency with confidence," Njoroge told Xinhua in Nairobi. This is the first time in over 15 years that the list of currencies comprising the Special Drawing Right (SDR) has been altered.

The inclusion, which marks another step in China's global economic emergence, came after the IMF evaluated the Asian nation's standing as an exporter and the yuan's role as a "freely usable" currency.

The fund's Chief Executive Christine Lagarde said while making the approval that the decision was an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system.

Lagarde added that 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.