China central bank confirms 2 promotions to vice governor

The People's Bank of China, or central bank, has appointed two new vice-governors as part of an ongoing reshuffle which is seeing personnel changes throughout the government.

Yi Gang and Ma Delun have been promoted from their previous roles as assistant governors, the central bank said in a statement.

Wu Xiaoling, a vice-governor and second-in-command to governor Zhou Xiaochuan, is stepping down having reached retirement age.

One of the appointments is thought to be a replacement for Xiang Junbo, who was appointed chairman of the Agricultural Bank of China last year, although the central bank did not refer to this in its short statement.

Ma came to the central bank in the early 1990s via the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the foreign exchange regulator.

Yi was a professor at Indiana University in the early 1990s, before moving to Peking University's economics department in 1994 and the central bank in 1997.

He has been careful to avoid commenting publicly on China's monetary or exchange rate policy beyond the central bank's established line, preferring to discuss policy from a theoretical standpoint.

The central bank has no independence to set monetary or exchange rate policy and is one of several competing ministerial bodies within China's State Council, or cabinet.

The government reshuffle is expected to continue until the end of March's National People's Congress, the annual session of parliament.