Bilawal slams appointing ‘IMF man’ to negotiate with IMF

Zardari says Reza Baqir’s appointment a ‘major mistake’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) top leadership took a broadside at the government for appointing Dr Reza Baqir as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor, raising the issue of a conflict of interest as the new central bank chief was previously an employee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“How can the IMF negotiate with the IMF?” PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari remarked while speaking to reporters outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.

“He [Baqir] was working with the IMF before taking over as the SBP governor. No matter how good or bad he is, there will always be doubts over whether or not the decisions he makes are those of the IMF,” he added.

The PPP chairman also raised questions over the appointment of Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh and the sudden decision to replace the SBP chief and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman.

“The government has offered no explanation for these moves. Nobody knows why these changes were made,” he said. “The prime minister didn’t even meet him [Dr Hafeez Shaikh] before appointing him.”

Bilawal maintained that the government was acting on the whims of the IMF.

“The government should tell us who’s making these decisions,” he demanded.

The PPP chairman warned that his party would vehemently oppose the IMF deal if the government went ahead with it before discussing it in the parliament.

“There will be protests in and outside the parliament,” he warned.

Bilawal said his party had also reached a deal with the IMF but without compromising over the country’s right to make its own decisions.

“We increased salaries after the IMF deal,” he added.

Bilawal said the government had completely succumbed to the IMF’s demands. “The current rulers are in a state of confusion and making the lives of citizens difficult by their poor handling of economic affairs.”

Taking a jibe at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) federal government for being unable to meet its revenue generation target, Bilawal offered that the task should be handed over to the PPP’s Sindh government which had accomplished the goal.

Separately, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari described Baqir’s appointment as the “major mistake”.

He was speaking to reporters outside the Islamabad High Court where arrived in connection with his petition seeking pre-arrest bail in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference against him.

“You can’t have an IMF man managing your house even if he is a Pakistani,” he said.

On Prime Minister Imran Khan repeatedly saying that the government would not grant an NRO to the opposition, Zardari said he was not sure what the premier was talking about. “Maybe he will not grant himself an NRO,” he responded to a reporter’s query.

PPP leaders Sherry Rehman and Maula Bakhsh Chandio also spoke to reporters outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.

“You can’t run the country by reducing the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award share and rolling back the 18th Amendment,” Rehman said.

“People are suffering from Khyber to Karachi. Perhaps you can learn how reduce inflation from the old Pakistan,” she added.

Chandio said a nation passing through a phase of crisis was not unusual and united to confront the challenges.

“However, the senators of the ruling PTI don’t even bother to attend the Senate proceedings,” he added.

“The people are more concerned about the rising prices of essential commodities instead of turning spirituality into a super science,” he remarked, referring to the premier’s statement at the recent foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Al-Qadir University.