A spokesman for the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said Tuesday that China's share in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has risen from the 11th to the 8th after the executive council of the IMF voted for China's special capital increase.

The spokesman said that the IMF has increased China's share in the IMF from the original 4.6872 billion Special Drawing Rights (US$6.1 billion) to 6.3692 billion SDR (US$8.3 billion).

He said that this is a significant event in the history of the relations between China and the IMF, marking a further enhancement of China's international economic status.

The IMF is an international financial institution participated by sovereign countries, and like the World Bank, it is a special institution under the United Nations.

Since its founding in 1945, the IMF has been playing a core role of uttermost importance in international financial sector.

The capital sources of the IMF are composed of the shares from member countries, and member countries can use their shares and even borrow a certain amount of capital in proportion to their shares when difficulties emerge in their international payments.

Meanwhile, the shares also determine the voting rights and relevant commitment of respective member countries in the IMF.

After the latest capital increase, China's share in the IMF ranks the 8th, the same as Canada, in the IMF. The first seven member countries are the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Saudi Arabia.

The spokesman said that the success of the capital increase is an inevitable result of the improvement of China's comprehensive national power. With the rising of international status, China will surely play an even more active role in international economic and financial sectors.

(Xinhua 02/14/2001)