Within minutes of a telephone call to Manila made by President Musharraf, prior to his departure for the Middle East on Saturday, the news about the appointment of a new Governor of the central bank spread like a wild fire on television networks.
The Finance Ministry was not aware of it as, officially speaking, it had not received any notification, and the nation wondered who is Shamshad Akhtar.
Will she be able to maintain the high standards for the prestigious office set by the outgoing Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Husain? Is her appointment a diktat from the multilateral loan giving agencies to a recipient country? After all, Dr Muhammad Yaqub was from the International Monetary Fund. Dr Ishrat Husain from the World Bank. And, now the Lady Economist is from the Asian Development Bank.
Ms Shamshad Akhtar is the daughter of former Secretary, Economic Affairs Dr M.A.G.M Akhtar. She hails from the interior of Sindh. This is not the first time that the government tried to persuade Dr Akhtar to come home.
Upon the retirement of Khalid Mirza, as Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, she was offered this job. She reportedly declined the offer, as she wanted to live in Karachi with her ageing parents. The distance between Manila and Karachi was the same as between Islamabad and the Metropolitan port city.
Then, ''Finance Minister'' Shaukat Aziz desired to post her as Deputy Governor in the SBP. But Governor Husain felt that with two Deputy Governors already working--Rashid Akhtar Chughtai and Taufiq Husain--a third deputy governor would make the organisation top heavy.
Ms Akhtar could work for eight more years at the ADB, under the Bank''s rules, and will be taking a huge cut in her retirement benefits on resigning to assume the office of SBP Governor.
There are no sound basis to suspect any multilateral lending institution having a say in the appointment of SBP Governor. Dr Muhammad Yaqub, prior to his appointment as the SBP chief, was already working as Special Secretary, Ministry of Finance. Dr Ishrat Husain was interviewed and selected by the top brass for the post upon the recommendation of then Secretary-General (Finance) Moeen Afzal. And, Dr Shamshad Akhtar has been selected after interviews with both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Dr Ishrat Husain''s recommendation has indeed played a part. But the overriding factor, besides her qualifications, was the perception that other candidates being considered were known for their affiliations with the government, and there was a keen desire not to create a perception that SBP once again had become an appendage of the Ministry of Finance.
The following profile of the new governor reflects the qualities and qualifications she is known for.
-- Deputy Director General (South East Asia) appointed May 2003.
-- Head of a regional department that structures and intermediates ADB assistance program for the larger Asean including active borrowers such as the Philippines and Indonesia and co-ordinates regional co-operation among large Asean.
-- Managed and supervised four sector divisions handling lending and technical assistance programme for infrastructure sector, governance, finance and trade, agriculture, environment, and natural resources, social sectors and two resident missions located in Philippines and Indonesia.
-- Director, Governance, Finance and Trade Division (From 1998 to January 1, 2002).
The job involved leading country and sector specific studies and analysis and providing advise to all financial regulators and economic ministers to adopt effective monetary and fiscal policy and management, and develop effective independence and accountability of regulators.
Worked on restructuring the financial sectors and strengthening of the legal, regulatory and institutional framework. Worked with different teams to further structured and strategised ADB lending, technical assistance and policy dialogue on all these subjects.
(i) structuring and implementation of the two large post-financial crisis ADB programs of close to $4 billion to Korea and $1.5 billion for Indonesia to resurrect the collapsed financial sectors,
(ii) advise on modernising and strengthening of the newly created China''s central bank, securities and insurance regulators, and structuring of a pension reform agenda, and
(iii) SOE enterprise restructuring and privatisation and corporate governance program for China, Indonesia, financial sector programs in Indonesia and a number of Central Asian Republics etc.
Interfaced with all countries regulators and finance ministers and had structure initiatives to catalyse the private investment fund managers and other financial intermediaries.
This involved leading economic and sector work in the post-financial crisis period and policy dialogue with the Deputies and Finance Ministers on the global, regional and national financial architecture of Apec economies.
ADB representative in the Bank International Settlement and International Organisation for Securities Commission and other international forums.
-- Appointed in 2001 as one of the 7-member internal working group to reorganise ADB.
-- Senior Financial Sector Specialist: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. (1996 to mid 1998).
-- Senior Country Economist: South Asia with more dedicated work on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (1990 to 1996).
In these two jobs task managed/supervised large loan and TA transactions, among others were:
1. Indonesia - Non-bank Financial Governance Program Loan ($350 million), 2001
2. Indonesia - Financial Governance Reform Sector Program Loan ($1.5 billion), 1999-2001
3. Korea- Financial Sector Program Loan ($4 billion) 1999-2001)
4. China - TAs for the Peoples Bank of China and Securities and Insurance Regulators
5. China - Pension Reform Program
6. Pakistan - Export and Industry Competitiveness Loan ($200 million), 1998
7. Pakistan - Capital Market Development Programme Loan ($200 million), 1997
8. India - Gujarat Public Sector Resource Management Programme, ($250 million), 1996 - first MDB policy based operation in India focused on reforms at the state level. Reforms included public sector resource management (rationalisation public expenditures and strengthening the revenue base), improved tax administration, infrastructure regulatory policy development, and privatisation of state owned enterprises.
9. Kyrgyz Republic - Financial Intermediation and Resource Mobilisation Programme
10. Kyrgyz Republic - Corporate Governance and Enterprise Restructuring Programme
11. Indonesia - SOE Governance and Privatisation Programme
12. Philippine - Non-bank Financial Governance Programme
-- Contributed chapters to several issues of the World Bank, Pakistan Country Economic Reports.
-- ADB country economic reports and country operational strategy for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
-- Structured and prepared reports and papers on:
-- estimation and dimensions of poverty
-- public finance including federal, provincial and local government fiscal arrangements and issues
-- resource mobilisation
-- public sector resource management
-- financial sector regulation
-- corporate governance
Government of Pakistan (1980-1981) Economist in the National Income and Economic Research Division of the Federal Planning Commission first in Islamabad and than briefly at the Planning and Development Department in the Government of Sindh, Karachi which is a provincial government.
-- Harvard University, USA (1986-1987) Post-Doctoral Fellow and US Fullbright Scholar at Department of Economics.
-- Council of National Academic Award UK (1978-1980), Ph D Economics: Awarded a Scholarship from the UK Government.
-- University of Sussex, UK (completed in December 1977) Masters of Arts Degree in Development Economics; Awarded UK Government scholarship
-- The University of Islamabad, Pakistan (completed in August 1975, MSc (Economics).
-- University of Punjab, Islamabad, Pakistan (1972-1974) Bachelor of Arts (Economics).