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Outgoing Moon names new central bank chief

Published: 23 Mar. 2022, 15:08

Rhee Chang-yong, director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was nominated by President Moon Jae-in as the next governor of the Bank of Korea Wednesday. [YONHAP]

With only 47 days left in office, President Moon Jae-in appointed a new central bank governor.

And although the Blue House said it consulted President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, Yoon’s spokesperson said his transition team had “not consulted with the Blue House or made any recommendations” on the Bank of Korea (BOK) chief appointment.

Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication, announced Wednesday that Rhee Chang-yong, director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was named by Moon the next BOK governor. He was to replace Lee Ju-yeol, whose term finishes at the end of this month.

Park said in a briefing, “As an expert in economics and finance, [Rhee] combines theory and policy implementation in the fields of domestic and international economies and finance and monetary policies and has gained strong confidence from those around him.”

Rhee has been a chief economist at the Asian Development Bank, a vice chief of the Financial Services Commission and an economics professor at Seoul National University. He also served as secretary general of the presidential committee for the 2010 G20 Seoul Summit and as a frequent policy adviser to the Korean government.

Rhee earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Seoul National University and a doctorate from Harvard University.

At the IMF, he was in charge of overseeing lending operations and bilateral and multilateral surveillance of economies in the region, including China, Japan, India and the Pacific Islands.

Moon and Yoon have been butting heads over who has the authority to make personnel appointments to public institutions.

Despite expectations that Moon and Yoon would reschedule a first meeting after a luncheon was canceled last week, the two sides have yet to do so.

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]