Work for the govt: A search on for the chief economist
Panel conducts interviews of five out of six shortlisted candidates.
Panel conducts interviews of five out of six shortlisted candidates. CREATIVE COMMONS
ISLAMABAD:
The government has started conducting interviews as it looks to finalise the chief economist of Pakistan. The post has been vacant for the past two and half years, and now the government faces the challenge to hire an expert economist to strengthen a weakened team at the Planning Commission (PC).
An advertisement for the vacancy was posted by the government a few months ago. A selection panel has conducted interviews of five out of six shortlisted candidates who applied for the post. According to an official of the PC, the interview process will only be completed once the sixth applicant, Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan, returns to the country.
Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan is currently employed in the State Bank of Pakistan where he heads the agriculture department. Once the process is completed, the Ministry of Planning and Development will send a panel consisting of three candidates to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for approval.
The selection panel is chaired by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal. It comprises Secretary Planning Hasan Nawaz Tarar, an additional secretary from the Establishment Division, Joint Chief Economist (JCE) of the PC Rizwan Bashir and Vice Chancellor-designate of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics Dr Asad Zaman.
The interviewed applicants include Dr Talat Anwar, senior research fellow at Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Islamabad, Dr Khalid Riaz, head of department of management sciences also at CIIT, Dr Qazi Masood, serving at the department of management of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dr Sajjad Akhtar, a consultant, and Ali Bat Khan, the chief of International Trade and Finance in the PC.
While the list of candidates was a good one, it did not reflect the best available in the country, said an official of the Ministry of Planning.
PC former deputy chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque, in his recent article, ‘Why are appointments in Pakistan so badly made’ explains that the interviews for such posts are conducted by federal secretaries and several able professionals hesitate to apply, fearing ‘poor treatment’. Their hesitance is also due to the interview process being conducted by, what they call, non-professionals with the decision taking several months, only to learn that a retired bureaucrat was preferred for the job.
The position of chief economist has been vacant since July 2011 with Dr Jafer Qamar being the last one to hold the post. Qamar resigned due to alienation from domestic economic issues. Haque has made several attempts to hire a chief economist since then but could not find a suitable candidate.
In his last attempt, he tried to hire Dr Khalid Riaz, who has a PhD in agriculture, but was unable to due to objections over bypassing the laid down procedures.
Historically, the post of the chief economist is a 22-grade position for the economist group of civil servants. However, authorities are not interested in appointing any of the current senior officials. According to analysts, the chief economist post requires a diversified experience in areas of economics, trade, poverty, inflation, fiscal and monetary policy making. The job becomes more challenging when the country is facing a crisis, and a mistake in the appointment could damage policy making.
The chief economist is assisted by two joint chief economists (JCE) in developing crucial economic policies. The JCE positions are currently filled to accommodate people rather than professional economists.
Rizwan Bashir, a 20-grade officer from the District Management Group, was serving as JCE Operations whereas the position belongs to the economist group. The JCE operation is responsible for preparing an annual programme, public investment authorisation (public sector development programme) and international trade and finance.
The acting charge of JCE Macro is assigned to Samiullah, who belongs to the economist group and is responsible to look after the macroeconomic section, money, prices and fiscal policy and poverty alleviation section.
The commission faces another problem of being sidelined by the finance ministry, especially during the signing of the International Monetary Fund programme which has a direct bearing on the country’s economic growth, according to sources.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2013.
The government has started conducting interviews as it looks to finalise the chief economist of Pakistan. The post has been vacant for the past two and half years, and now the government faces the challenge to hire an expert economist to strengthen a weakened team at the Planning Commission (PC).
An advertisement for the vacancy was posted by the government a few months ago. A selection panel has conducted interviews of five out of six shortlisted candidates who applied for the post. According to an official of the PC, the interview process will only be completed once the sixth applicant, Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan, returns to the country.
Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan is currently employed in the State Bank of Pakistan where he heads the agriculture department. Once the process is completed, the Ministry of Planning and Development will send a panel consisting of three candidates to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for approval.
The selection panel is chaired by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal. It comprises Secretary Planning Hasan Nawaz Tarar, an additional secretary from the Establishment Division, Joint Chief Economist (JCE) of the PC Rizwan Bashir and Vice Chancellor-designate of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics Dr Asad Zaman.
The interviewed applicants include Dr Talat Anwar, senior research fellow at Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Islamabad, Dr Khalid Riaz, head of department of management sciences also at CIIT, Dr Qazi Masood, serving at the department of management of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dr Sajjad Akhtar, a consultant, and Ali Bat Khan, the chief of International Trade and Finance in the PC.
While the list of candidates was a good one, it did not reflect the best available in the country, said an official of the Ministry of Planning.
PC former deputy chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque, in his recent article, ‘Why are appointments in Pakistan so badly made’ explains that the interviews for such posts are conducted by federal secretaries and several able professionals hesitate to apply, fearing ‘poor treatment’. Their hesitance is also due to the interview process being conducted by, what they call, non-professionals with the decision taking several months, only to learn that a retired bureaucrat was preferred for the job.
The position of chief economist has been vacant since July 2011 with Dr Jafer Qamar being the last one to hold the post. Qamar resigned due to alienation from domestic economic issues. Haque has made several attempts to hire a chief economist since then but could not find a suitable candidate.
In his last attempt, he tried to hire Dr Khalid Riaz, who has a PhD in agriculture, but was unable to due to objections over bypassing the laid down procedures.
Historically, the post of the chief economist is a 22-grade position for the economist group of civil servants. However, authorities are not interested in appointing any of the current senior officials. According to analysts, the chief economist post requires a diversified experience in areas of economics, trade, poverty, inflation, fiscal and monetary policy making. The job becomes more challenging when the country is facing a crisis, and a mistake in the appointment could damage policy making.
The chief economist is assisted by two joint chief economists (JCE) in developing crucial economic policies. The JCE positions are currently filled to accommodate people rather than professional economists.
Rizwan Bashir, a 20-grade officer from the District Management Group, was serving as JCE Operations whereas the position belongs to the economist group. The JCE operation is responsible for preparing an annual programme, public investment authorisation (public sector development programme) and international trade and finance.
The acting charge of JCE Macro is assigned to Samiullah, who belongs to the economist group and is responsible to look after the macroeconomic section, money, prices and fiscal policy and poverty alleviation section.
The commission faces another problem of being sidelined by the finance ministry, especially during the signing of the International Monetary Fund programme which has a direct bearing on the country’s economic growth, according to sources.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2013.