While living up to its expectations of subverting laid down procedures as it did in the case of appointing people in World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the government this time did not circulate the IMF adviser vacancy.
Shahid Mehmood, who is currently serving as special assistant to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and additional secretary finance, is poised to become an adviser to the executive director of the IMF, confirmed a senior official. Mehmood’s notification will be issued soon, he added.
The position of adviser fell vacant in June this year after Saleem Sethi returned to Islamabad on completion of his tenure.
The changes are taking place at a time when the country’s $6.6-billion programme has entered a critical phase. The IMF has already granted 11 waivers in the last five reviews of the programme aimed at keeping it afloat despite the government’s failure in introducing reforms.
The IMF has also decided to change Franks, who last year negotiated the $6.6-billion bailout programme. Franks will join the European Central Bank and the IMF has not yet announced his successor. The mission chief is directly responsible for the country’s programme and giving advice to the Executive Board of the IMF to approve loan tranches and provide waivers.
Quite ‘frankly’ a difficult job
As head of the IMF mission in Pakistan, Franks had to face a barrage of criticism. There were serious questions raised over the design of the programme, sequence of reforms and IMF’s continuous lenient approach towards Pakistan.
Franks also faced criticism for granting waivers. However, others argue that it was not his fault as he was just following directions passed on from Washington, either by the headquarters or the US Treasury.
In order to clear his position, Franks had written a piece in December last year, in which he defended the programme and the sequencing of reforms.
Mehmood has been picked from a panel of three who were interviewed by a board, headed by Dar. One of the other two panellists from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was Muhammad Ashraf. The SBP official’s experience was limited to banking, which was not sufficient for holding a post of adviser, according to an official who sat on the board.
Pakistan was earlier represented in the IMF by towering personalities having PhDs in economics – like Dr Meekal Aziz Ahmad and Dr Ihtesham Ahmad. In 2010, the PPP government had appointed incumbent chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa on the same post but he left immediately after joining due to the hectic nature of the work.
Mehmood will assist executive director of IMF, Jafar Mojarrad, who heads a constituency of seven countries including Pakistan.
The finance ministry did not circulate the post among federal and provincial departments, as required under an office memorandum of the Establishment Division. Even the officials of the ministry who were aspirants for the lucrative post were not formally informed.
Spokesman for the finance ministry, Rana Assad Amin, was not available for comments.
Earlier, the government had circumvented the procedures in the appointment of executive directors to the WB and the ADB. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had appointed his principal secretary, Nasir Khosa, as executive director of the WB and his cabinet secretary Sami Saeed as executive director of the ADB in Manila by violating the procedures.
Interestingly, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is facing the National Accountability Bureau reference for appointing his son-in-law as ED of the WB by violating the same procedures.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2014.
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Our rel enemy are institutions like the WB, IMF, ADB.......who pander to needs of our leaders knowing full well that money loaned NEVER reaches the people.........by doing this they kill two birds with one stone. First....the country goes into massive debt and is beholden to its master the IMF ( America in other words ). secondly the terms of the loans are so favourably in the IMF's interest that it makes good business for them....after all they are in business of making money.