The International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde has said that China's volatile stock market will not affect the IMF's assessment of whether to include the Chinese yuan in its Special Drawing Rights, or reserve currencies.
Lagarde predicted that China's economy is strong enough to withstand the equity rout, and she played down the declines of the A-share market to date, pointing out they were still up 80 percent on a year ago.
China is seeking to gain the yuan's admission to the IMF’s basket of currencies, making up its SDR, which is now composed of the US dollar, Japanese yen, the British pound and the euro. Lagarde said the fluctuation in China's stock market would not affect the IMF's assessment on yuan's admission.
Media reports reveal that the IMF is scheduled to start discussions in the second half of the year and decide in November.