The International Monetary Fund is expected to admit China’s renminbi to its elite basket of reserve currencies on Monday in what would be a major vote of confidence in Beijing’s economic reforms and its bid to internationalise its currency. Confirming China’s place at the top table of the world’s economies, the IMF’s shareholders are set to vote overwhelmingly to include the renminbi as the fifth member of the basket used to value the fund’s own de facto currency, the “special drawing rights”. The move comes at a crucial time for China, which is managing a significant slowdown in growth and has suffered deep falls in financial markets as questions have mounted over the leadership in Beijing’s response and commitment to reforms. But Monday’s vote by the IMF’s board will also come amid questions over just how much the IMF has been forced to bend its own rules to make the case for the renminbi and accommodate China at a sensitive time in the relationship between the fund and Beijing.