Government changes names for post of adviser to IMF executive director

Finance ministry has sent summary to PM for approval before end of term

ISLAMABAD: The government has changed a panel that had been shortlisted for the coveted Washington-based post of senior adviser to executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which may now make it easier to pick a name of its choice.

The finance ministry has sent a summary to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for approval of one of the three names before the end of government’s term on May 31, said official sources.



The fresh summary comprises Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, Punjab Finance Secretary Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh and Ministry of Finance External Finance Additional Secretary Zafar Hasan.

All of them are from the powerful Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) group.

The only common name between the old and new summary is of Hamid Sheikh. Earlier, the federal finance secretary had sent the names of Principal Secretary to Sindh Governor Muhammad Saleh Farooqui, Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh and Naveed Allaudin, Additional Secretary Finance to Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.



But the summary remained stuck in the finance ministry and was subsequently changed before being sent to the prime minister, said the officials. They said Saleh Farooqui opted out and the name of Naveed Allaudin was struck off by the finance ministry.

The move is apparently aimed at creating room for the appointment of Hamid Sheikh as senior adviser to the IMF executive director. A notification is expected in the next two days.

The finance ministry has also sent another summary for the appointment of four economic ministers in Pakistan’s embassies in Washington, London, Tokyo and Beijing. Interviews were expected on Monday and notifications may be issued before Thursday.

The appointment of senior adviser is being made at a time when Pakistan may again have to go back to the IMF for another bailout package. The external sector situation remains precarious and the official foreign currency reserves are depleting fast. As of May 18, Pakistan’s gross official reserves were only $10.3 billion, hardly enough to provide cover for two months of imports.



The post of senior adviser has been vacant for over one year after Shahid Mehmood returned to Pakistan. Mehmood, also from the PAS Group, has again been sent to another prized position of executive director at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila.

The successful candidate will assist IMF Executive Director Jaffar Mojarrad, who represents seven countries at the IMF’s executive board. However, in the past, the PAS group officers had failed to meet professional requirements of the post, which compromised Pakistan’s standing at the IMF.

Unlike previous practice, the government has not circulated the post of senior adviser among all ministries and departments of federal and provincial governments. Last year, the government had changed the policy for filling the lucrative foreign posts against basic pay scales of 20 to 22.

Former finance minister Ishaq Dar wanted to accommodate his favourite bureaucrats on these posts.

Now, the authority to fill these posts has been given to the prime minister, who picks one of the three candidates from the panel. But the Ministry of Finance has its reservations over selecting the candidates without widely circulating the post, the officials said.

Due to violation of appointment criteria, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had called back Raja Azeem, son-in-law of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Pakistan’s executive director at the World Bank. Subsequently, the government sent Nasir Khosa in place of Azeem by committing the same violations. But he was never called back.

Profiles

Naveed Kamran Baloch is an officer of federal government in BS-22 presently posted as secretary Ministry of National Health Services. Prior to that, he held the post of State Life Insurance Corporation chairman, finance secretary, food secretary, information secretary and principal secretary to Sindh chief minister.

Baloch has done MSc in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries from the London School of Economics, UK.

Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh is currently serving in the Punjab government as finance secretary. He did Masters in Development Studies from the UK and completed MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.

He has also worked in the Department for International Development of the UK, but he does not have experience in external finance.

Zafar Hasan has been serving as additional secretary external finance for the past few months. Before that he has remained in the Ministry of Planning and Development.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2018.

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