19 AUGUST 2000, Page 28

Governor Che

KEEP faith with the revolution — idolise a central banker! I am inspired to learn that Che Guevara, pin-up of successive student radicals and activists, was briefly Governor of the Central Bank of Cuba. Banknotes with his signature command a premium, which puts them as close as the Cuban peso gets to a sound currency. It is a pity that his country never joined the International Monetary Fund, or we might have met on the annual circuit in Washington, popping out for a Cuba Libre and discussing regulatory policy. One way and another, a missed opportu- nity. Now what I want is a pin-up poster of Montagu Norman.