KARACHI: Former advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, Dr Ishrat Hussain has been conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Pakistan Microfinance Network.
The Award was bestowed on him in recognition of his lifelong services and contributions to the banking and financial sectors of Pakistan.
At the award ceremony, Shaukat Tarin, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Dr Reza Baqir, Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Amir Khan, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Ghalib Nishtar, Chairman, Pakistan Microfinance Network were also present on the occasion.
Dr Ishrat has served the policy and socio-economic sectors of the country in the capacity of an economist, a civil servant, a central banker, and a financial expert as well as an educationist. He was appointed as the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan in 1999 and became the Chairman of the National Commission for Government Reforms in 2006. From 2008 till 2016, he served the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi as its Dean.
Dr Hussain has also served the World Bank for over two decades. Among the key positions he held at the Bank were Resident Representative to Nigeria, Head of the Bank's Debt and International Finance Division, Chief Economist for Africa between 1991-94, and later as Chief Economist for East Asia and Pacific Region. He became the Bank's Director for Poverty and Social Department and was named the Country Director for Central Asian Republics in 1997.
During 2016-17, he was a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, Dr Hussain has authored two dozen books and monographs, together with scores of research paper, articles and chapters contributed to books and journals of international repute. He was conferred the prestigious award of "Hilal-e-Imtiaz" by the President of Pakistan in 2003. The Banker Magazine of London declared him as the Central Bank Governor of the Year for Asia in 2005 and received the Asian Banker Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
Dr Hussain, as per his academic qualifications, earned his Master's in Development Economics from Williams College, and completed his Doctorate in Economics from Boston University in 1978. He is a graduate of the Executive Development Programme, jointly sponsored by Harvard, Stanford and INSEAD. He is also the HEC National Distinguished Professor, Professor Emeritus and Chairman of the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at the IBA. Dr Hussain started his career with the Civil Service of Pakistan and worked in Sindh and Bangladesh for grass root development and administration.
Others who were given the Awards were, Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, Syed Nadeem Hussain, Chairman, Pakistan Fintech Network and Naghma Rashid, the DAMEN & Damen Support Programme. A posthumous award was conferred on Gulbaz Afaqi, founder of the Soon Valley Development Programme.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021