WBG appoints 2019 Nobel laureate Michael Kremer as next chief economist.

Seoul Central District Court on the 16th ruled in a damages suit by the South Korean government that N. Korea must compensate about KRW 44.6 billion (~$32.5 mln at 1,371 KRW/USD) for unilaterally blowing up the inter-Korean liaison office building.

In a Sept. 16 Qiushi article, PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng said China will continue transforming its monetary policy framework to build a scientific, stable system. The central bank will optimize intermediate monetary variables and de-emphasize quantitative targets—especially single-channel loan targets—treating financial aggregates mainly as observational, reference and forward-looking indicators. Pan said policy will shift toward price-based tools: improve market-based interest-rate formation, transmission and short-end rate control; refine policy rates and supporting institutions to strengthen the policy-rate role; and expand deposit and loan pricing options to provide more loan-pricing benchmarks. He called for stronger execution and supervision of interest-rate policy, measures to curb excessive industry competition and idle fund circulation, and institutionalized, credible routine policy communication to guide market expectations.