New faces named to central bank posts

MA Delun and Yi Gang have been appointed vice governors of the central bank amid a slew of high-level personnel changes following a key Communist Party congress.

Both were assistant governors before the State Council made the decision on December 23, the central bank said yesterday in a statement posted on its Website.

Vice Governor Wu Xiaoling, 61, stepped down, it said.

Wu will continue to hold some other important positions even though she has reached the retirement age, Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said.

Ma and Yi fill the vacancies left by the departures of Wu and Xiang Junbo, who was appointed to head the state-owned Agricultural Bank of China in June 2007.

"The central bank's monetary policy will scarcely target asset prices" though it will keep a close watch on the stock and housing markets, Ma was quoted by the China Securities Journal as saying last year.

'Growing pains'

The 58-year-old had previously been the central bank's spokesman and also served a stint as vice director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Yi, 50, holds a doctorate in economics from the United States and had mainly worked in monetary policy departments at the central bank.

Yi described rising inflation, weak domestic demand, excess liquidity and a massive trade surplus as the country's "growing pains."

He said last year that the central bank was resolute in fighting inflation and would change "the situation of negative interest rates" over a period of time.

The central bank has five vice governors. Its other senior employees include a discipline inspector and one assistant governor, according to its Website.