Another governor leaves: Govt tight-lipped over Kardar departure

The finance ministry, SBP and presidency refuse to confirm or deny the resignation.

ISLAMABAD:


With a highest score of 89, Shahid Kardar never completed a century in first class cricket and it is becoming increasingly evident that he was only able to complete 306 days of a three-year term as central bank governor, though government officials still refused to confirm or deny his departure.


Nevertheless, sources familiar with the matter say that Kardar’s resignation from his position as governor of the State Bank of Pakistan was accepted on Wednesday, though the presidency, the finance ministry and even the central bank refused to issue an official confirmation.

“I can neither deny nor confirm it,” said Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari. A similar statement was made by Syed Waseemuddin, the spokesperson for the State Bank.

Kardar was the 16th governor of the central bank and assumed charge of the office on September 9, 2010. He resigned after reportedly developing strong policy differences with President Zardari. Kardar, 59, is a charted accountant and has played first class cricket between 1972 and 1974.


He was reportedly very close to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Nadeemul Haq and Finance Ministry Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. All three are public policy experts with liberal, reformist leanings that encounter stiff resistance within a highly conservative bureaucracy.

Sources close to the technocratic trio say that they often promised each other in private that they would leave government as a group if they felt that they were not having a meaningful impact in the corridors of power. It is unclear how the other two will react to Kardar’s resignation, though one finance ministry official deemed the probability of them resigning “far-fetched”.

Reactions from politicians were a little less understanding. “He was not fit for the job and a person far removed from realistic life,” said a key leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and close ally of President Zardari.

Kardar’s deputy at the State Bank, Yaseen Anwar, has been tipped as his successor.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2011.
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