Three scholars to advise central bank

BEIJING - China's central bank announced on Monday it added three new academic members - Zhou Qiren, Xia Bin and Li Daokui - to its monetary policy committee to strengthen the fight between sustaining growth and containing inflation.

The three prominent Chinese economists will replace Fan Gang, the only academic member of the monetary policy committee, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its official website.

The committee is an advisory body composed of senior officials from the cabinet, the Finance Ministry, planning agency, financial regulatory agencies as well as academics from government institutions. It plays a key role in framing policy advice on issues such as interest rates and the currency, but the ultimate responsibility for decision-making lies with the State Council, the nation's cabinet.

Zhou Qiren, head of the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University, has been critical of China's recent stimulus package and called the government to strictly control money supply.

"China's recent strong economic recovery is mainly a result of government stimulus and the excess supply of liquidity. The government's fiscal and monetary policies were 'far more than appropriate' in 2009 and it's time for the government to quit its stimulus policies and let market forces to play their role," Zhou wrote on March 29 on his blog.

The other new members are Xia Bin, head of the financial institute of the Development Research Center, a think-tank under the State Council and Li Daokui at Tsinghua University.

Xia, a former central bank official, is considered an expert on monetary policy and financial reforms.

Li is held in high regard as a macroeconomic analyst and has been particularly vocal about the threat of inflation.

The central bank's announcement confirmed an earlier report in the China Business News. The paper said the trio would attend their first monetary policy committee meeting on Tuesday.

China Daily

(China Daily 03/30/2010 page14)