BEIJING : Yi Gang's surprise re-appointment as China's central bank governor on Sunday means a pro-market mind of high international stature will continue to represent the world's second-largest economy on the global stage.
But Yi retaining his post as the governor of the People's Bank of China provides some relief as a familiar face, albeit at the helm of a diminished institution, focused mainly on monetary policy after the launch of a new financial watchdog. "The central bank governor is not a job that can be easily taken over by someone else. We need someone like Yi who can communicate on the international stage, such as G20," added Xu, who has previously worked at PBOC.
Still, he comes from a humble background, enrolling at the elite Peking University after spending several years in the countryside during Mao Zedong's"Cultural Revolution".Yi, who helped implement major currency reforms in 2005 and 2015, has long advocated interest rate and currency liberalisation. In August 2019, the PBOC replaced benchmark bank lending rates with the market-driven loan prime rate .
Yi's main challenge remains to keep an increasingly indebted economy growing, while its population declines and ages, the developed world is on the brink of recession, and geopolitical tensions mount.