WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--China has given approval to the International Monetary Fund for the fund to publish an annual economic review of the country for the first time ever.
For most countries, the IMF regularly publishes the staff review--a so-called Article VI report--but Beijing has historically prevented the release of the report.
But late Wednesday, the IMF said it would make the staff review public early Friday morning, weeks sooner than even IMF officials had hoped.
The decision follows a softening in the IMF board's characterization of China's currency policy. In June, the IMF's managing director referred to China's currency as "substantially" undervalued, a characterization that sparked heated opposition from Beijing.
IMF staff still maintains the yuan remains substantially undervalued even after China reinstated a strategy for a managed float of its currency in June. But while some board members agreed the yuan policy is "undervalued," others disagreed with the staff assessment over the exchange rate, and a number of directors pointed to signs that a structural shift in the balance of payments is already underway, "reflecting the reforms already put in place to strengthen consumption."
China has seen its clout on the international stage wax in recent years as its economy has grown at unprecedented rates. That influence has also been increasingly felt at the IMF, with China injecting $50 billion into the IMF's lending resources and the appointment of Min Zhu as a special advisor to the IMF managing director.
