Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), had been designat as the interim finance minister.
Shamshad Akhtar appointed caretaker finance minister: The incident comes as the selection process for important cabinet members under caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq continues amidst intense rumours.
Earlier this week, President Dr. Arif Alvi presented the Nishan-i-Imtiaz to Dr. Akhtar, who had previously served as finance minister in the interim administration before the 2018 election, during the Independence Day celebrations.
On January 2, 2006, she assumed the position of SBP governor and retained it for a duration of three years. She was the first woman to lead the nation’s central bank. Dr. Akhtar served the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as its Director General, Southeast Asia Department since January 2004 before being named SBP governor. She had previously served as the Department’s Deputy Director General. For the East and Central Asia Department of the ADB, she also held the role of Director, Governance, Finance and Trade Division.
Dr. Akhtar, who was born in Hyderabad, completed her early schooling in Karachi and Islamabad. She earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Punjab in 1974.
Dr. Akhtar holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Paisley College of Technology in the United Kingdom as well as an M.Sc. in Economics from the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad and an M.A. in Development Economics from the University of Sussex.
She was a visiting fellow at the Harvard University Department of Economics in 1987 and is a post-doctoral Fulbright Scholar.
She has held the position of board chair at both Karandaaz Pakistan and the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
Crucial role
The timing of her appointment coincides with Pakistan’s continued participation in the IMF project. The nation got the first tranche, totaling about $1.2 billion, under the $3 billion nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), last month.
The nation avoided a possible default thanks to a last-minute agreement, but pressure still exists because of the high level of the country’s finance needs.
The caretaker regime, usually responsible for conducting free and fair elections, now bears the responsibility of implementing the reforms pledged to the IMF.
Given this situation, the authorities determined the necessity of appointing a caretaker finance minister, and they put forth several candidates for consideration.