(Yicai) Feb. 11 -- The People’s Bank of China has promoted Zou Lan, director of its monetary policy department, as deputy governor of the central bank.

Fifty-two-year-old Zou will become the PBOC’s fifth deputy governor, in charge of areas including financial markets, technology, the Treasury, and credit management, according to a statement released by the State Council yesterday.

The position of fifth deputy governor had been vacant since the PBOC’s former Vice President Zhang Qingsong was named chairman of China Investment last November.

Zou worked at the Financial Market Department of the PBOC for a long time, becoming its director in May 2019. He was then transferred to the Monetary Policy Department in May 2022. He was also named as the spokesperson for the central bank.

With rich experience in market communication, Zou has broken down the PBOC’s relevant policies and responded to market concerns at important press conferences.

After the PBOC suspended treasury bond purchases in the open market last month, Zou explained at a press conference that the move was because, in a period when fewer treasury bonds are issued in the primary market, the PBOC would turn to other tools to inject liquidity into the market to avoid worsening the imbalance between supply and demand and increasing volatility, thus supporting long-term stability.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione