Even the most extraordinary bit of luck would not have made this government retain Dr Reza Baqir’s services at the state bank for another term. Most likely, the government waited because he had so few days left in service otherwise it would have been quite happy to give him his marching orders ahead of time. That’s because he was part and parcel of their attack on Imran Khan, as IMF’s alleged man in Pakistan. And, to be clear, for PML-N to embrace the SBP’s autonomy wholeheartedly and leave it untouched owes less to its sense of monetary sector sovereignty and a whole lot more to the fear of what little chances exist of reviving the IMF program also evaporating. And since even the past is testament to its obsession with controlling the central bank through the finance ministry, and Ishaq Dar has suddenly stepped out of the wilderness to express his displeasure at the collapsing rupee and ballooning yields on government debt, there’s an undeniable sense of déjà vu in the air just when the monetary sector needs the fiscal sector to support its efforts to control prices instead of the finance ministry requiring monetary space for its populist policies. The coming days will tell whether or not the economy will miss Dr Baqir, which in turn will show just how much he brought to the table, and also how wise it was to let him loose. Under him the Covid response packages, Roshan Digital Account to facilitate overseas Pakistanis, Raast payment system, and work on Digital Banking Policy were all very fine initiatives. But his report card does leave a little to be desired when it comes to the core two functions of any central bank – price control and currency stability. No doubt an out-of-control toxic political environment didn’t make his job easier, despite being isolated from a lot of things to a very large extent, but inflation has been a problem practically since he left the IMF to join the SBP. And there’s been literally nothing to show for all the life that has been squeezed out of the rupee; a cycle that does not just end when you want it to; or even when the person who set it in motion is replaced. All things considered, the job of SBP governor is much tougher now than it was when Dr Baqir walked into it. *