China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan has said that members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are frustrated with the long-delayed 2010 quota reform of the fund and called for early passage of the reform.
"The 2010 quota reform has been delayed for so long. IMF members are not simply disappointed but frustrated," Zhou told Xinhua on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings on Friday.
To reflect the growing and underrepresented influence of emerging economies, the IMF called for a 6 percent shift in quota share to the emerging economies in 2010. However, the reform has been delayed for five years due to blocking by U.S. Congress as the United States retains a de facto veto.
The IMF members are discussing an interim solution which does not need the U.S. congressional approval.
"The interim plan should not be an alternative to the original reform program. We are pushing for fully implementing the 2010 quota reform," he said.
Commenting on the IMF's review of including the Chinese currency, the yuan, into the basket of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), Zhou said that the evaluation process of the RMB's inclusion is proceeding in order, and China would speed up relevant reforms to promote the process.
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said on Thursday that China knew quite well what is desirable, what needs to be changed and improved in the monetary policy and in the financial sector in China.
"I believe what the Chinese authorities have actually indicated...will naturally be conducive to an assessment of whether or nor the RMB is freely usable, which is as you know one of the key criteria," she said at a press briefing on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings.
SDRs are international foreign exchange reserve assets. Allocated to nations by the IMF, an SDR represents a claim to foreign currencies for which it may be exchanged in times of need.
Although denominated in the U.S. dollar, the nominal value of an SDR is derived from a basket of currencies, with a fixed amount of Japanese yen, U.S. dollars, British pounds and euros.
According to the IMF, the selections of currencies for the SDR basket are based on two criteria -- the size of the country's exports and whether its currency is freely useable.
In the IMF's last review in 2010, the RMB met the export criteria, but was assessed to not meet the freely useable criteria.
