The International Monetary Fund announced on October 28 that Deputy Managing Director Bo Li will leave the Fund on November 30, 2026, at the conclusion of his term, and that Min Liao, currently China's Vice Minister of Finance, is proposed to succeed him effective December 1, 2026.

Source: IMF

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Bo Li, who joined the senior management team in August 2021, had helped guide the Fund through some of the most turbulent years for the global economy with “steady judgment, intellectual rigor, and a quiet kindness.”

As Deputy Managing Director, Li was responsible for the Fund's work on about 90 member countries. He led the launch of the IMF's first Enterprise Risk Management policy and roadmap, modernised its data governance framework, guided work on digital money and cross-border payments, led seminal work on stablecoin regulation, and more recently spearheaded work on artificial intelligence, the IMF said.

Announcing the proposed appointment, Georgieva described Liao as “a highly respected policymaker with more than three decades of experience in banking, financial regulation, and macroeconomic governance,” deeply engaged in global macro-policy coordination and in bilateral and multilateral fiscal, financial and trade cooperation.

Liao has served as Vice Minister of Finance since May 2018 and has been a member of the People's Bank of China Monetary Policy Committee since 2023, according to the IMF. He began his career at the People's Bank of China, China Everbright Group and Bank of China, served in the China Banking Regulatory Commission, and was Director-General of the Shanghai Banking Regulatory Bureau. He holds a master's degree in economics from Peking University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

Independent reporting of the announcement noted the transition would keep a senior Chinese policymaker in the Fund's top management team as the IMF confronts slower global growth, elevated debt burdens and continued policy recalibration across major economies.

Source: DimSum Daily

The appointment is described by the IMF as proposed, and would take effect on December 1, the day after Li's departure.