Strauss-Kahn talks up the yuan's role

International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has called for a greater role for China's yuan currency as part of a broad-based overhaul of the international monetary system.

In a speech at the IMF, Strauss-Kahn said adding emerging market countries' currencies, such as the yuan, to a basket of currencies that the fund administers could add stability to the global system.

He saw a greater role for the IMF's "special drawing rights", which is currently composed of the dollar, sterling, euro and yen, over time but said it will take a great deal of international cooperation to make that work.

The IMF chief said without changes to the global system the world could be sowing the seeds of the next economic crisis. He said global economic imbalances were back and issues such as exchange rate pressures were threatening economic stability.