KARACHI: The government has decided to appoint a new deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) with deputy chief Dr. Murtaza Syed leaving the position on January 26th, 2023.
Syed’s three-year term as governor of the SBP comes to an end on January 26. However, this will be his final week at the central bank before leaving, reported Express Tribune.
The outgoing deputy director was one of the top three candidates considered for the position of SBP governor in August last year. Interestingly, the government has yet to receive a list of nominees to fill his seat, even though the names of Dr. Saeed Ahmed and Ashraf Khan were making rounds. Ahmed’s three-year tenure as the IMF’s senior advisor to the executive director came to an end last week.
According to the amended SBP Act, the federal government has to appoint deputy governors after consulting with the minister of finance and the governor, from a panel of three candidates recommended by the governor “within a period not exceeding thirty days on the occurrence of such vacancy”.
On the flip side, the federal government has violated the very same SBP Act three times in the last eight months, despite the fact that it was amended at the request of the IMF and the previous SBP management.
Tariq Pasha was appointed SBP director by the government in July of this year, but on October 27 he was promoted to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue. The government filled the position only ten days ago when President Arif Alvi approved the appointment of Muhammad Ali Latif as the SBP’s non-executive director in Pasha’s place.
