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By special correspondent Sindhsamaachar
ISLAMABAD: On the recommendations of Finance Advisor Hafeez Sheikh two main institutions of Pakistan State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) heads changed by Prime minister Imran Khan, however an official Dr. Reza Baqir an official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has finalized for SBP Governor. The office of the SBP governor has confirmed the development. The prime minister does not have the powers to remove the governor of the central bank except in certain circumstances that are defined in the SBP Act of 1956. Bajwa was holding a statutory position for a period of three years that would have ended on July 6, 2020. Jehanzeb Khan, an officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), is likely to be replaced by someone from the tax machinery, possibly a Customs Service Group official, the sources added.
Despite repeated attempts, Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh did not respond to questions about the reasons behind the move. Sources close to Bajwa told The Express Tribune that the governor did not resist the government’s decision because of the prevailing macroeconomic conditions. A confrontation between the federal government and the governor could have created uncertainty and that is why Bajwa decided to quit gracefully, the sources added. The decision to remove the heads of two important economic policymaking institutions has been taken after Dr. Shaikh expressed his desire to bring his own team. The prime minister has already unceremoniously removed Asad Umar as the finance minister about two weeks ago. These changes are taking place at a time when Pakistan is in midst of negotiations with the IMF for a bailout package.
There has been resentment in the federal cabinet over the decision to continue with the people who had served with former finance minister Ishaq Dar. Dr. Reza Baqir, who is being tipped as the new SBP governor, is a Pakistani by birth and currently serving as the senior resident representative of the IMF in Egypt. Dr. Reza Baqir had earlier visited Pakistan and met Prime Minister Imran Khan, the sources said. Baqir has remained the IMF’s head of mission to Romania and is working with the global lender since 2000 when he was the head of its debt policy division. His resume includes graduating from Harvard University; a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley; and working with the World Bank, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Union Bank of Switzerland. If Baqir is appointed the new head of the SBP, both the adviser to the PM on finance and the SBP governor will be from the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the IMF. Dr. Shaikh has also worked with the World Bank.
Appointment of Tariq Bajwa as Governor SBP?
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government appointed Tariq Bajwa as the SBP governor on July 7, 2017. The SBP Act of 1956 empowers the president of Pakistan to appoint a governor for a term of three years. Bajwa retired from civil service in June 2017 as the finance secretary and was the third bureaucrat to be appointed the head of the central bank. He is the only Pakistani to have won the prestigious Littauer Fellowship. He earned the reputation of being a competent and upright officer during his civil service career. He was among a handful of officers whose reputation remained clean despite serving as the FBR chairman for two and a half years. The new SBP governor will face the immediate challenge of negotiating a bailout package with his previous employer and implement its conditions on the monetary policy and exchange rates.
