China's Liao Min named next IMF deputy managing director, extending Beijing's 15-year hold on the seat
The vice minister of finance will succeed Li Bo on December 1, continuing an unbroken run of Chinese officials in the role since Zhu Min first took it in 2011.
4-MIN READ
By Pacific Post Staff·Published
Liao Min applauds while seated on stage at a financial conference · Source: Dickson Lee
The International Monetary Fund named Liao Min, one of China's vice ministers of finance, as its next deputy managing director on Wednesday, extending an unbroken run of Chinese officials in the post that now stretches back more than 15 years.
Liao will succeed Li Bo, a former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, whose term runs out at the end of November. His appointment takes effect December 1, pending completion of the formal process. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva called Liao "a highly respected policymaker with more than three decades of experience in banking, financial regulation and macroeconomic governance," adding that he has been "deeply engaged in global macro-policy coordination" and that his experience bridging domestic reform with international economic cooperation "will be a tremendous asset to the fund and our membership."
Liao has served as China's vice minister of finance since May 2018 and has sat on the People's Bank of China's monetary policy committee since 2023. Born in 1968, he holds a master's degree in economics from Peking University and an MBA from Cambridge. His earlier career ran through the People's Bank of China, China Everbright Group, Bank of China, and several posts at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, including heading its Shanghai office, before he moved into senior roles coordinating China's international economic policy from the Office of the Central Commission for Finance and Economy.
The appointment keeps one of the IMF's deputy managing director seats in Chinese hands for a fourth consecutive term. Zhu Min became the first Chinese national to hold the post in 2011, followed by Zhang Tao in 2016 and Li Bo in 2021. Each handoff has kept Beijing with a seat at the top table of an institution still led, by long-standing convention, by a European managing director and an American first deputy, giving China a standing voice in the fund's leadership even as it continues to push for a bigger formal vote share that better matches the size of its economy.
