The European Central Bank (ECB) will today add China's currency, the renminbi, to its daily list of exchange rates.

The list now offers euro reference exchange rates for 35 currencies. Other new additions today are the Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso, Thai baht, Russian rouble and Croatian kuna.

ECB sources said that the decision to add the seven currencies was based on factors such as their transaction volume.

Yi Xianrong, a financial researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Chinese economy's rapid growth means that fluctuations in the renminbi exchange rate not only have an influence on Asian countries, but are also starting to have an impact on the euro.

(China Daily April 1, 2005)