China's new central bank governor, a dedicated academic, will continue reforms in the financial sector and push forward its further opening-up, Justin Lin Yifu, a prominent economist, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Lin co-founded the China Center for Economic Research in 1994 with Yi Gang, who was appointed on Monday as the new governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC). The institution later became the National School of Development (NSD) of Peking University, a multidisciplinary school providing teaching, research and policy advice.
"Yi is a thoughtful academic, with a strong executive ability, who is also willing to sacrifice his personal interests when it comes to national interests," Lin said, noting that Yi also demonstrated a strong leadership quality.
Yi gave up teaching in Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and returned to China in 1994 and joined the PBOC in 1997 as the deputy secretary-general of the bank's monetary policy committee.
While working at the PBOC, Yi still lectured at NSD and gave advice on research, Lin noted. "For instance, when inflation was high in 1993 and 1994, Yi mainly focused on the question of how to stabilize the rate," he said.
The economist also noted that Yi had contributed a lot to China's monetary policies, the opening-up of the country's financial sector and the internationalization of the yuan since he began working at the PBOC. "It's commonly believed that he will continue on the pathway of pushing forward reforms," Lin said.
Yi was quoted in a report by the Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday as saying that the major imminent task is to maintain a stable monetary policy while continuing financial reforms. He noted measures such as relaxing some limits on foreign ownership will be gradually carried out.
"Yi has been taking part for 20 years in drafting the country's monetary policies and working on the opening-up of its financial system, which will continue to be his main focus in the future," Lin said.
