China Wants to Internationalize Its Currency, So It's Easing Capital Restrictions

You can’t buy a beer with it. You can’t trade in it. Yet China’s push to win an arcane currency status bestowed by the International Monetary Fund is driving policy makers in Beijing to ease capital restrictions.

Board members of the IMF will vote this year on whether to add the yuan to its Special Drawing Rights basket along with the U.S. dollar, euro, yen and British pound. An IMF mission in China Tuesday said it will work closely with authorities toward inclusion, which is “not a matter of if but when.”