Change at SBP

Sir: As a banker from Pakistan, I was dismayed on seeing the exit of Dr Shamshad Akhtar as the country’s central banker and even more so at her replacement. Has Pakistan run out of central bankers and economists?

The economic world order is being tested most severely and Pakistan, as de-coupled as it may seem due to country-specific issues, is balancing itself on as thin a tight-rope between fiscal and monetary actions as other countries. At no time more than the present do we need a captain in the seat who can steer Pakistan away from what most analysts see as an economic abyss. If I do yield that the finance minister’s role may well have political leanings in terms of appointments, the central bank head is a specific, technical job, which should warrant someone most capable.
Though I am sure Mr Saleem Raza is a very capable man in his field, but appointing a career private banker at the helm of the state bank was something totally opposite of what is needed. Aside from the fact that most bankers asked to take on coveted positions in the government or state banks tend to not do well, and we have enough anecdotal evidence in Pakistan, what the country needed most was the continuation of Dr Akhtar’s tenure, as independent as she wished to remain. If not Dr Akhter, then the replacement needed to be someone fully versed with macro and micro economics, one who understands how to use the conventional and non-conventional tools at the central bank’s disposal to put our inflation-ridden economy back on track amidst a global slowdown. It is a very difficult task and one that requires as talented and capable a person.
As much as I try not to, the Pakistani in me has to draw comparisons with India, where it took one Manmohan Singh to help India’s economic development with a well thought-out road map in his previous role, and I am sure we have talent, either internal or external (not be read IMF/World Bank) to do the same.
The government had a distinct opportunity to appoint someone capable to the job. They blew it.
SALMAN HAIDER ZAIDI
United Kingdom