WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund does not see China's recent market volatility by itself as a reason to voice concern about including the yuan in its benchmark currency basket, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday.
IMF deputy spokesman William Murray said the fund was on track to complete a review of its Special Drawing Rights basket by the end of the year. Beijing has pushed hard for the yuan to be included.
"Some of the recent volatility that we have seen in markets has been ... some market reaction to the move to adopt a more flexible exchange rate in China," he said. "But that in itself is no reason for us to be voicing concern about China and the SDR basket."
In a note prepared for a meeting of Group of 20 financial officials, IMF staff said an economic slowdown in China and market volatility were among rising downside risks to growth and that central banks in advanced economies should keep interest rates accommodative.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has flexibility to hold off on raising interest rates, Murray said, but declined to comment on whether a hike would be appropriate when the U.S. central bank holds its next policy-setting meeting this month.
"Our general view is that they have flexibility to hold off," he said.
Referring to the situation in Ukraine, Murray said the IMF was looking forward to seeing a debt restructuring deal finalised after an agreement with creditors.
And he added that the IMF still wanted to see "substantial" debt relief for Greece before deciding whether to take part in another support programme, and was awaiting the outcome of that country's Sept. 20 election.
"We still remain engaged with the interim government at the technical level and we're going to work with the new government whenever that may be, as soon as that new government is ready to re-engage with us on policies," he said.
"For us to re-engage with Greece on a programme basis, there will have to be substantial debt relief. I have no reason to believe that won't happen, but we have to see how things play out."