STRUCTURE OPTIMIZATION OF THE IMF CURRENCY BASKET IN TERMS OF THE YUAN’S INCLUSION
The problem of determining the optimal weight of the yuan included in the Special Drawing Right (SDR) currency basket of IMF is considered. The inclusion of the yuan in the SDR connected with the fact that China met the gateway export criterion and its national currency is judged to be freely usable (the second currency selection criterion). The method of construction a currency basket of minimum risk was used for calculation of the optimal nominal volume of the yuan and other currencies. This method is based on a simple and extended exchange model which involves determining the values of invariant currency indexes and analysis of their dynamics. Using a quadratic optimization framework, we calculated optimal weights for currencies and construct 2 stable aggregate currencies which consist of 4 (dollar, euro, pound, yen) and 5 (with the addition of the yuan) reserve currencies. Also we assessed the volatility of the current basket SDR and of the basket constructed in appliance with R.W. Rahn’s proposal. After comparing statistics of constructed 4 baskets we concluded that the «yuanized and stabilized SDR» currency has a lower volatility and can be recognized as a standard unit of account of the IMF.