The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Monday that the Chinese currency, the yuan, is eligible to join its Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of currencies, Chinese state-run news agency reported.

“[The yuan] met all existing criteria,” the IMF board said in a statement issued after a meeting.

The yuan would be included in the SDR basket from October 1, 2016, Xinhua said, quoting the statement. It would have a weight of 10.92 percent in the basket, the report added.

The IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, said – as quoted by Xinhua – the move was “an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system”.

The IMF uses the elite currency basket to denominate its special lending reserve. The SDR basket currently comprises the United States dollar, the European Union euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.