China's Lin named chief economist of World Bank

4 February 2008

World Bank hopes leading academic's appointment will help strengthen ties with China.

At the end of his first official tour of African countries as World Bank president, Robert Zoellick named Justin Yifu Lin, a leading Chinese academic, as the Bank's new chief economist. The move is expected to help strengthen ties between China and the World Bank.

Zoellick praised Lin and said that having "someone who is very experienced in the field of rural development will both bring us his expertise but also it will probably strengthen our ability to work with China."

The appointment is part of Zoellick's broader effort to engage China and develop ties with the country, especially as China increasingly becomes a major lender to African countries, and one of the largest investors in the continent's extractive industries sector. In December 2007, for the first time, China also became a contributor to the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's lending arm to the world's poorest countries.

Lin replaces Frenchman Francois Bourguignon. He will take up his appointment on May 31, 2008.

Sources

World Bank names China's Lin as top economist by Lesley Wroughton, February 4, 2008, (Reuters website)

World Bank appoints new chief economist, Press Release, World Bank, February 4, 2008. (World Bank website)

Lin's long swim: An economist with an unusual past, Economist, January 17, 2008. (Economist website)

World Bank appointment set to boost Beijing ties, by Richard McGregor and Krishna Guha, January 22, 2008. (Financial Times website)