The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will freeze a decision on whether to update the composition of its Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of currencies until September 30, 2016. That would be the earliest date for the possible inclusion of the Chinese currency – the yuan – in the international reserve asset, the IMF said on Wednesday.

In a statement cited by financial news service Bloomberg, the Washington-based fund said its executive board voted on August 11 to extend the deadline for the decision on the composition of the basket until September next year. The IMF was scheduled to complete a review in November to decide if the yuan would be added to the basket.

The SDR basket is an international reserve asset that currently includes the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen, the British pound and the euro. The composition of the basket is reviewed every five years.

IMF staff in July had recommended its executive board delay a decision on the yuan’s possible inclusion in the basket, in order to minimise disruption to international currency markets.

China last week devalued its currency by the most since 1994. Officials said the reason was to give market forces a bigger role in the exchange rate of the yuan. IMF has said factors relevant to a decision on the yuan include whether the currency is “freely usable” and widely traded in the foreign exchange markets.