Le Minh Hung

Governor

State Bank of Vietnam

Transition Economy Program (’97)

Le Minh Hung, 46, is officially the youngest Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in history, after his appointment on April 9, 2016.

Vietnam lawmakers approved Le Minh Hung as the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, a day after he was nominated by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Le Minh Hung is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He spent most of his career in the State Bank of Vietnam but in 2014, he was transferred to become the deputy chief of the Communist Party administration office.

Career
After graduating in 1997 from the IMF-sponsored Macroeconomic Policy Program at GRIPS’ predecessor the Graduate School for Policy Science, Hung returned to the State Bank of Vietnam where he served as Head of Foreign Exchange Management Department, Head of International Cooperation Department and Personnel Department. In October 2011, Hung was appointed Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam. Apart from supporting the Governor, he was in charge of international cooperation, foreign exchange management, and international project activities. This time was noted for its relatively stable foreign exchange and gold markets. He also served as Alternate Governor of Vietnam in the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank.

Challenges ahead
Reaching Vietnam’s 2016 economic growth target of 6.7 percent is seen as one of the biggest challenges for the new government. Vietnam is vulnerable to external shocks if it doesn’t continue to bolster its banking system and restructure state companies, according to International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in a recent interview.

Source: VN Express International & Bloomberg
 

…Read an interview with Le Minh Hung, published in the IMF’s JISPA Newsletter (May, 2013)