The International Monetary Fund (IMF) voted on Monday to add the yuan to its basket of reserve currencies. The addition will take effect October 1, 2016.

"The Executive Board's decision to include the RMB in the SDR basket is an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system. It is also a recognition of the progress that the Chinese authorities have made in the past years in reforming China's monetary and financial systems," the IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday.

The IMF's basket of reserve currencies (Special Drawing Rights SDR)) includes the yen, euro, pound, U.S. dollar and the yuan now. Weightings will be 41.73% for the U.S. dollar, 30.93% for the euro, 10.92% for the yuan, 8.33% for the yen and 8.09% for the British pound.

The SDR was modified in 2000 last time, when the euro replaced the German Deutsche Mark and the French franc.