BEIJING, CHINA (AFP) - China's cabinet has appointed Zhu Min as vice governor of the nation's central bank, state press said Monday, amid reports that he is being groomed for a top job at the International Monetary Fund.

His posting to the People's Bank of China (PBOC) came amid a flurry of appointments and dismissals announced by the State Council, China's cabinet, and reported by the official Xinhua news agency.

Zhu, 56, has been tipped for a senior position at the IMF and was expected to be first named a PBOC vice governor to prepare him for the move, Dow Jones Newswires reported last month.

His appointment to the PBOC comes after he resigned last month as vice president of the Bank of China, one of the country's top commercial banks.

It was not certain when he could take up the IMF post. Zhu, a veteran in China's banking industry and a former economist with the World Bank, is considered a strong candidate to represent China's interests within the IMF, the 21st Century Business Herald said last month, citing unnamed sources.

China and other developing countries have pressed the IMF to reform its governance structure to better reflect their growing global economic clout.