World's top central bankers don't include Singapore's

Ravi Menon only scored a "B-" in Global Finance Magazine's 2012 rankings.

The Singapore central banker's grade worsened from a "B" in the previous year's assessment, as nine other central bankers in Asia outshined him, according to the "Central Banker Report Card" feature published annually by Global Finance since 1994.

Only two years on the job, Ravi Menon fared better than five other Asian central bankers, including Japan's Masaaki Shirakawa who scored the lowest "C-" in the region, and was scored the same as China's Zhou XiaoChuan.

Six central bankers around the world scored the top-ranking "A" grade and proclaimed the World's Best Central Bankers: Australia's Glenn Stevens, Canada's Mark Carney, Israel's Stanley Fischer, Malaysia's Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Philippines' Amando Tetangco Jr., and Taiwan's Fai-Nan Perng.

Central Bank Governors of 50 key countries (and the ECB) were graded on an “A” to “F” scale for success in areas such as inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability and interest rate management. (“A” represents an excellent performance down through “F” for outright failure.) Subjective criteria also apply.

Global Finance publisher Joseph Giarraputo says: “During one of the toughest years on record, the World’s Central Bankers were tested as never before. Every year, we assess the determination of Central Bankers to stand up to political interference, and their efforts at influencing their governments on such issues as spending and economic openness to foreign investment and financial services. “