IMF names Chinese yuan elite world currency

The International Monetary Fund added the Chinese yuan to its list of elite world currencies Monday, a designation that acknowledges China's growing presence as a global economic power, The New York Times reports.

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, joins the dollar, the euro, the pound, and the yen in getting the nod from the IMF. It's a move that should allow for the yuan to be more widely traded in foreign exchange markets, Reuters reports. But at least for now, the addition to the Special Drawing Rights basket is primarily symbolic.

"There's this obsession with the SDR, and it's completely out of proportion to its economic impact, which is likely to be trivial," former Federal Reserve Board governor Randall Kroszner told the Times. "It may be that in the drive to get into the SDR, they may make changes that make the renminbi more attractive for international market participants."

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