Yuan plan comes in for praise

Policymakers from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur welcomed plans by the European Central Bank to consider adding the yuan to its foreign-currency reserves.

The internationalization of China's currency emerged as a subject at the annual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington after Bloomberg News reported that the ECB will discuss whether to begin laying the groundwork to buy yuan. Such a measure would mark a major step for the importance of the currency, also known as the renminbi.

Asked about the ECB's plans, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said: "It is good that more countries are willing to adopt the yuan as a reserve currency as our economy grows. Of course it means some homework to do for us, including to reduce administrative control on our financial market and make it more market-oriented, and to gradually make the yuan a convertible currency."