IMF may pay no heed to US' currency manipulation charges

The United States' labeling of China as a currency manipulator is unlikely to compel the International Monetary Fund to intervene, as it concluded recently that China's currency practices are in line with its economic fundamentals, according to experts.

On Monday, the US Treasury, following an earlier pronouncement by US President Donald Trump, applied the label to China after the yuan depreciated, escalating the US-China trade friction.

The yuan now trades at about 7-to-1 against the dollar. That's in line with China's economic fundamentals, and the IMF is therefore unlikely to impose sanctions on Beijing, according to Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.