Lan Fo'an

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lan.

Lan Fo'an (Chinese: 蓝佛安; born June 1962) is a Chinese politician who is currently serving as minister and party branch secretary of Finance. He previously served as the Party Secretary of Shanxi.

Lan Fo'an
蓝佛安
Lan in 2024
15th Minister of Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 October 2023
Premier	Li Qiang
Preceded by	Liu Kun
Party Secretary of Shanxi
In office 29 December 2022 – 28 September 2023
Governor	Jin Xiangjun
Preceded by	Lin Wu
Succeeded by	Tang Dengjie
Chairperson of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress
In office January 2023 – November 2023
Preceded by	Lin Wu
Succeeded by	Tang Dengjie
Governor of Shanxi
In office 4 June 2021 – 29 December 2022
Party Secretary	Lin Wu
Preceded by	Lin Wu
Succeeded by	Jin Xiangjun
Personal details
Born	June 1962 (age 63) Huidong County, Guangdong, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	Zhongnan University of Economics and Law South China University of Technology
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	蓝佛安
Traditional Chinese	藍佛安
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lán Fó'ān

Early life

Lan was born in Huidong County, Guangdong, in June 1962. After graduating from Hubei College of Finance and Economics (now Zhongnan University of Economics and Law) in 1985, he was dispatched to the Ministry of Finance.

Political career

Beginning in November 1988, he served in several posts in the Guangdong Provincial Finance Department, including section member, principal staff member, and director. In March 1999, he was appointed vice mayor of Dongguan, a city in Guangdong, but held the position for only two-and-a-half years. He then moved back to the Guangdong Provincial Finance Department and was appointed its deputy head. In April 2007, he was promoted to party branch secretary of Guangdong Provincial Audit Department, concurrently holding the head position since March 2008. In March 2015, he was appointed as party secretary of Shaoguan, another Guangdong city, making him the top political leader there. He was promoted to vice governor of Guangdong in January 2016.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2017, he was transferred to the neighboring Hainan province, and he was appointed secretary of its Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Party's agency in charge of anti-corruption efforts. He also served as director of the Hainan Provincial Supervisory Commission. He became a member of the Standing Committee of the CCP Hainan Provincial Committee.^[1]

He served as a delegate to the 19th CCP National Congress in October 2017. From 2017 to 2022, he was a member of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. He was also a member of the 13th National People's Congress from 2018 to 2023. In April 2021, he was transferred to north China's Shanxi province and appointed deputy party secretary.^[2] On June 4, he was named acting governor of Shanxi, replacing Lin Wu.^[3]

In October 2022, he was elected as a member of the CCP Central Committee at the 20th CCP National Congress. In December 2022, he was appointed secretary of the CCP Committee of Shanxi province.^[4] He stepped down from the post on 28 September 2023.^[5] On 28 September 2023, he was appointed as the CCP committee secretary of the Ministry of Finance.^[6]

As Finance Minister

Lan as finance minister, 2024

On 24 October 2023, he was appointed as the Minister of Finance.^[7]

In October 2024, Lan announced that the Chinese government would issue 325 billion USD in special bonds to boost China's economy amidst a sharp property market downturn.^[8][9]

China's hidden debt

In November 2024, he announced a plan to cut 'hidden' debt by 10 trillion RMB, lowering local government interest payments by 600 billion RMB (839 billion USD) over five years.^[10] Lan revealed that local governments' hidden debt was 14.3 trillion RMB (2 trillion USD) by the end of 2023.^[10][11] However, there were disagreements as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that China's local government financing vehicle debt is at 66 trillion RMB.^[10] He noted that 2 trillion RMB will be allocated yearly from 2024 to 2026, with the aim of reducing hidden debt to 2.3 trillion RMB (320.9 billion USD) by 2028.^[11][12] On November 8, 2024, China approved this plan to assist local governments in refinancing their substantial debt. Lan described this measure as a significant change in China’s debt restructuring and assured that the government debt risk is manageable.^[11]

China-US trade war

See also: China–United States trade war and Tariffs in the second Trump administration

In February 2025, the Finance Ministry imposed tariffs on several US goods which include: 10% tariffs on large-displacement cars, crude oil, pickup trucks, and agricultural machinery and 15% tariffs on coal and LNG.^[13] In March 2025, Lan stated that reserves are ready for uncertainties as China tackles to ensure growth amidst a trade war with the US.^[14] During a G20 meeting in Washington on April 2025, he, along with China's central bank governor, warned of "insufficient" global economic growth because of trade wars and tariff. Lan urged other countries for multilateral cooperation stating that China supported dialogue "on equal footing" to settle trade tensions.^[15] That same month, the Finance Ministry retaliated with 34% tariffs on all US imports as response to US President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs.^[13]