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By Bloomberg

The offshore yuan rose the most in a week as forecast-beating economic growth signaled that China’s stimulus measures are beginning to pay off.

Gross domestic product increased 7 percent in the quarter through June, official figures showed Wednesday, compared with the 6.8 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The data came after the People’s Bank of China late Tuesday opened up the nation’s interbank bond market wider to foreign central banks, sovereign wealth funds and global financial organizations as part of efforts to push the yuan’s case for inclusion in the International Monetary Fund’s reserves basket.

The offshore yuan that trades freely rose 0.03 percent, the most since July 8, to 6.2131 a dollar as of 4:38 p.m. in Hong Kong, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The onshore rate, which is constrained by a daily central bank fixing, closed little changed from Tuesday at 6.2092 in Shanghai, according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices.

“China’s economy is recovering as the government’s easing measures gradually kick in,” said Li Bo, Shanghai-based chief investment consultant at GF Securities Co. “The yuan will be stable because of improving fundamentals and the IMF’s year-end review of its basket of reserve currencies.”

China has cut interest rates four times since November and reduced reserve ratios for major banks twice in 2015. The nation is also considering an extra 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) of local-government debt swaps in addition to the current 2 trillion yuan quota, according to people familiar with the matter.

Foreign central banks, sovereign funds and global financial organizations will no longer need pre-approval to trade bonds, interest-rate swaps and conduct repurchase agreements, the PBOC said. They will only be required to fill in a one-page registration form and can decide how much they want to invest.

The PBOC raised the yuan’s reference rate by 0.02 percent to 6.1152 a dollar. The gap between the onshore spot rate and the fixing was 1.5 percent, within the 2 percent limit.