The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will decide soon whether or not to add the renminbi to its Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket. The Fund’s review of this issue last summer focused on two issues. The first, referred to as the gateway criterion, was a simple matter. China met this criterion as early as 2010 by virtue of its large share in global exports, which has expanded since the previous review five years ago. The second criterion is whether or not the renminbi is freely usable. The Fund’s review examined a number of metrics on usability of the Chinese currency, while acknowledging that some of these ... (full story)