Vietnam approves Le Duc Thuy as c. bank governor
HANOI - Vietnam's National Assembly on
Saturday approved the appointment of Le Duc Thuy as the new
governor of the central bank, a move likely to be applauded by
foreign and local bankers.
But analysts cautioned that Thuy, who is regarded by bankers as
reformist, would have his work cut out pushing change in a
system where all major decisions are made by the conservative
19-member Communist Party politburo.
Officials at the assembly said the legislative body had yet to
approve a request from Prime Minister Phan Van Khai that one
of his five deputy prime ministers, Ngo Xuan Loc, be sacked for
mismanagement, although this was likely to happen on Saturday.
One official told Reuters only two delegates of the assembly's
several hundred members had voted against Thuy's appointment.
Thuy will move from the permanent deputy governor's position
at the bank to replace Nguyen Tan Dung, who officials have said
was too busy for the post.
Dung is also a deputy prime minister in charge of the economy
and sits on the politburo.
According to Vietnam's constitution, all top government
appointments must be approved by the assembly, but in practice
the largely rubber-stamp body rarely raises much opposition.
The ruling Communist Party had said last month it would seek
Loc's removal for mismanagement over an unfinished water park
project in Hanoi that has been plagued by allegations of
corruption and illegal land transfers.
THUY WELL-REGARDED BY FOREIGN BANKERS
Bankers have said that Thuy, who speaks English and Russian,
was already running the central bank on a day-to-day basis
because of Dung's other responsibilities.
He will be taking over the central bank at a time when the
government is trying to strengthen the nascent banking sector
and introduce greater prudential requirements and standards.
Foreign donors have generally said that while Vietnam has
dragged its feet on reforming the trade regime, state-owned
enterprises and the private sector, Hanoi has at least made
concerted attempts to build a stronger bank system.
But Thuy faces the tough task of trying to wean state-owned
companies away from years of preferential and unsecured
lending from big state commercial banks.
Dung was appointed governor in May 1998 to bring political
clout to an institution that had been criticised for failing to
prevent local banks from an explosion of bad debts due to lax
lending policies in the mid-1990s.
According to brief bio-data of Thuy published in official media,
the new central bank governor has a PhD in economics.
He moved to the central bank in 1996 after spending a number
of years in the early 1990s as a close aide to the then General
Secretary of the Communist Party, Do Muoi.
Thuy, who is around 50, attended Harvard University during
1991-92, official media said without giving details.
When making the two proposed government changes on
Monday, Khai did not put forward anyone to replace the
disgraced Loc, who fell victim to a two-year campaign to rid the
party of graft and boost the image of the state apparatus.
Reuters - December 11, 1999.
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