Zhang Tao has been appointed as new deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, according to an online statement released by the State Council on Friday.

With the new appointment, Zhang will be the sixth deputy governor of the PBOC.

Yi Gang, Pan Gongsheng, Fan Yifei, GuoQingping and Chen Yulu now serve as deputy governors of the central bank.

Prior to this, Zhang served as head of department of treaty and law under the central bank since the beginning of last year, and has served as an executive director for China at International Monetary Fund from September 2011 to January 2015.

An expert in macroeconomics and financial policy, Zhang has years of experience at multilateral development banks.

Zhang holds a PhD in International Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.