.css-cn685g{color:#2aa191;inline-size:-webkit-fit-content;inline-size:-moz-fit-content;inline-size:fit-content;color:#2aa191;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;font-style:italic;line-height:22.4px;}@media (min-width:768px){.css-cn685g{font-size:22px;line-height:30.8px;}}Asian AngleWho is Vietnam’s new Prime Minister Le Minh Hung?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The ex-central banker has the credentials to succeed. Whether he has the political capital remains to be seen

The ex-central banker has the credentials to succeed. Whether he has the political capital remains to be seen

Hung’s technocratic credentials are real. As central bank governor from 2016 to late 2020, he helped stabilise Vietnam’s macroeconomic foundations, build sizeable foreign reserves and nudge its banking sector towards digital modernisation. He is not a flamboyant politician, rarely speaking to the media, but a steward who understands that keeping the machinery running matters more than announcing grand redesigns.

Since leaving the central bank, Hung has led the Communist Party’s Central Office and the Central Organisation Commission, roles that deepened his political exposure but offered little of the hands-on economic policymaking a prime minister must master from day one.

© South China Morning Post