The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to announce that China’s currency, the yuan, will join the fund’s group of international basket of reserve currencies. Just the US dollar, the euro, Japan’s yen and the British pound are currently part of this select band. Earlier this month, IMF head Christine Lagarde backed the yuan’s inclusion. If the decision is made, the yuan is likely to join the basket next year, experts said.

China is the world’s second largest economy behind the US and asked for the yuan to become a reserve currency last year. Reserve currencies are used by central banks and other financial organisations to help pay down international debt and steady exchange rates. The last change made to the basket was in 2000, when the euro replaced the deutschmark and the franc.

If Beijing’s wish is granted, some analysts have suggest that by 2030 the yuan will become one of the top three major international currencies, together with the dollar and the euro. Concerns about Beijing keeping the yuan artificially low to help exporters is one reason the currency has previously failed to meet the criteria for reserve currencies set out by the IMF.

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