NANJING (MNI) – Full convertibility and a free float are conditions
for currencies such as the Chinese yuan to be included in the basket
used to calculate the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing
Rights, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said
Thursday.
“There are a number of conditions that are probably necessary for
the (yuan) or any new currency to enter into the (SDR) basket including
full convertibility and free float,” he told reporters on the sidelines
of a G20 seminar on monetary system reform here.
“It’s worth discussing,” he said.
Earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on delegates to
come up with a timetable for the yuan to join the dollar, euro, yen and
pound sterling in the basket.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement soon
after that central bank independence, flexibility and an open capital
account are prerequisites, echoing an IMF assessment published last
month.
[TOPICS: M$$EC$,M$X$$$,MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$Q$$$,M$A$$$,M$$FX$]
