Not willing to allow the former SBP Governor a term extension, the government is head hunting for a new candidate
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The government is starting its search for a new governor of the State Bank of Pakistan to succeed Dr Reza Baqir who three-year term has expired on May 4.
Change of guard in key national institutions was always on the cards following the recent diametrical and rather unceremonious change of political leadership in Islamabad. Perhaps befittingly, it is starting with Dr Baqir.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet is all but resolved to bring somebody after their own heart.
“I have spoken to him (Dr Baqir) and told him of the government’s decision,” Finance Minister Miftah Ismail official Twitter account said.
“I want to thank Reza (Baqir) for his service to Pakistan. He is an exceptionally qualified man and we worked well during our brief time together.”
Appointed as the Governor of the SBP by the President on May 4, 2019 for a period of 3 years from the day of his reporting for duty, Dr Baqir assumed office on May 5, 2019.
Minister Ismail said SBP deputy governor Murtaza Syed will act as interim chief until a new governor is announced. “… as per law the senior most Deputy Governor takes over until. Therefore Dr Murtaza Syed, an eminently qualified economist with rich IMF experience, will take over as Governor SBP.”
The government is expected to name a new governor SBP later this month.
Sources said the leading contender in their reckoning at the moment is another former IMF executive with vast international exposure.
“Several names are under consideration for the appointment”, a well-placed source told Independent Pakistan. They said it would likely be to a five-year term.
The top contender for the position is Aasim M. Husain, former deputy director in the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the IMF. Mohammad Aurangzeb, President and CEO of Habib Bank Limited is also on the list alongwith former secretary finance Shahid Mehmood, former deputy governor SBP Saeed Ahmed and Noor Ahmed, executive director at Asian Development Bank.
Top officials in the Ministry of Finance revealed a formal summary for appointment of new governor central bank would be sent to the competent authority immediately after the Eid holiday.
Shahbaz Sharif, who rose to the prime minister’s office on the back of the multiparty Pakistan Democratic Front (PDM) coalition, has discussed the extension of Dr Baqir with his principal advisors, many of whom turned out to be naysayers.
The strongest voice for allowing Baqir to stay on “for a brief period or till further orders” was of Finance Minister Ismail. But the SBP Amendment Act 2021 precludes any such appointment or extension.
The naysayers are led by former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and include stalwarts like Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Saleem Mandviwalla.
Dr Baqir’s detractors in the ruling coalition chalk up much of the economic desolation wrought by the previous regime to monetary policy – and Dr Baqir was heading the national institution responsible for monetary policy. There is no denying that it happened on his watch.
Baqir, who played an instrumental role in finalising the terms and conditions of the $6-billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) from the IMF, joined SBP in May 2019 after the then Secretary Finance Younas Dagha and former Governor SBP Tariq Bajwa were unceremoniously shown the door while the IMF mission was in town for finalising the Fund programme.
His takers want him to stay on as the face of the central bank, and argue Baqir has it in him to breathe new life in Pakistan’s moribund IMF bailout.
Dr Baqir possesses exceptional skills of striking up good relations with political classes across the board. In 2016, he managed to meet the then Finance Minister Ishaq Dar through the good offices of the former senior civil servant Nasir Khosa, who was then serving as Pakistan’s Executive Director in the World Bank based in Washington DC.
On that occasion, Baqir requested Dar to place him on Pakistan’s economic team as he wanted to serve his country. However, soon after, the storm ostensibly unleashed by the Panama Leaks shook the country’s political stability to its very foundations, dashing his dreams.
However, Baqir managed to develop close ties with the PTI leadership and established close contact with PTI leader Imran Khan. He also worked up good contacts with the military establishment to clinch the position.
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