ISLAMABAD: The federal government has appointed former finance secretary Tariq Bajwa as new governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), ARY News reported on Friday.
His appointment came in the wake of sudden depreciation and subsequent appreciation in the value of the rupee against the dollar. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had termed the depreciation artificial, which was the largest drop in the rupee value in nine years.
Riaz Riazuddin has been serving as SBP’s acting governor since May 2 after the top slot of the central bank fell vacant following the retirement of SBP governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra.
A day earlier, Dar announced to appoint a permanent governor of the SBP following the latest spike in the dollar value. He termed the spike artificial occasioned by some communication gap between certain stakeholders.
He promised to launch a thorough investigation into the rupee depreciation and bring those responsible to book.
Currency market sources said the rift between the central bank and the Ministry of Finance caused volatility in both interbank and open markets.
ARY News had broke the news a day earlier about former finance secretary Tariq Bajwa’s likely appointment on the top slot of the central bank. Bajwa has also been a former chairman Federal Board of Revenue and belonged to the Pakistan Administrative Services.
He retired after superannuation on June 23 this year and was expected to win an official position after his retirement. He is also said to have a rapport with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
Mr. Bajwa has also been a former Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) before being appointed to the Fiance Division. He also worked on the recent budget for financial year 2017.
Tariq Bajwa is the brother of Asif Bajwa, chief statistician in the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) who conducted the recent population and housing census. Another brother Dr. Rashid Bajwa is the CEO of National Rural Support Programme.
