Beijing, Oct 11 (IANS): China will continue to push ahead financial reforms with the hope that its currency Renminbi be included in the special drawing rights (SDR) basket later this year, an official said.

Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, made the remarks at the International Monetary Fund annual talks held in Lima, Peru, according to a statement on the website of the central bank on Saturday.

The IMF is expected to assess the possible inclusion of the RMB before the year end, reported Xinhua.

China has opened its inter-bank bond market and forex market to overseas financial institutions and has been promoting data transparency, following SDR requirements, Yi said.

The central bank has recently further freed the RMB exchange rate through changes to the central parity rate mechanism to make the exchange rate more flexible, he said.

The country will continue with its stable monetary policies, he said.