China has selected American-trained economist Yi Gang to become the country’s new central bank governor, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Yi Gang, a vice governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has been nominated to replace Zhou Xiaochuan as the head of the Chinese central bank, parliament delegates told Reuters on Monday.
Liu Kun, a former vice finance minister, has been nominated to replace Xiao Jie as finance minister, parliament delegates said.
The nominations, among others, will be reviewed by the nearly 3,000 delegates attending the National People’s Congress on Monday morning.
Zhou’s successor will have a weighty first assignment.
The U. S. Federal Reserve is expected to announce a decision to raise interest rates on March 21, a day after China’s parliament ends.
In 2017, the Fed raised borrowing costs three times and the PBOC followed it twice — in March and December — setting open market operations’ (OMO) rates higher by 10 basis points (bps)
and 5 bps, respectively.
