China names veteran economic planner Yang Yinkai to Communist Party’s top financial policy body

Government website confirms Yang Yinkai is now deputy head of the powerful Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission’s general office

In new role, Yang will continue to work under Vice-Premier He Lifeng, his former boss at National Development and Reform Commission

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Yang Yinkai’s new role comes with a bigger economic portfolio than his previous position at the NDRC, which oversees China’s Belt and Road Initiative and plots its five-year plans. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:30pm, 7 Sep 2023Updated: 7:58pm, 7 Sep 2023

A veteran state economic planner has been named to a key position in China’s ruling Communist Party’s top policy coordination body for finance and economic affairs in another career move that appears to mirror the trajectory of his boss Vice-Premier He Lifeng.

Yang Yinkai, who previously helped lead the country’s top economic planner, was referred to by a new title – deputy head of the general office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission – on a government website on Thursday.

The information appeared on the website of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, where Yang led a delegation on Tuesday to discuss reforms to China’s collectively owned forests and convey President Xi Jinping’s directives on forestry and grassland work.

The post confirms Yang is now co-lead of the powerful general office that leads China’s financial and economic affairs – a role that comes with a bigger economic portfolio than his previous role at the National Development and Reform Commission.

Yang’s appointment comes eight months after he was promoted to deputy head of the NDRC, a ministry-level body that plots the country’s economic direction, including making its yearly and five-year plans and overseeing China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s signature project.

Yang, 53, was trained in geology and started working at the NDRC in the early 2000s, holding various leadership positions related to economic planning, revitalising China’s northeast rust-belt and poverty reduction.

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