21 FEBRUARY 1998, Page 23

George 1, Dragon 0

GOVERNORS of central banks are a threatened species. There are only 172 of them in the world, but last year 29 of them lost or quit their jobs. In the previous year 35 of them left, only three of them at the end of their terms. These alarming figures (from the Morgan Stanley Central Bank Directory, which is the spotter's handbook) underline Eddie George's feat of survival in getting himself nominated for another term when his runs out in June. He had some tense moments last summer, but later on his colleagues noticed that his hair was curling and assumed that all was well. His constituency is the financial markets, which will cheer his return, as ministers have had the sense to realise.