Govt to appoint new SBP governor next week: Miftah Ismail

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail said on Thursday that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor would be appointed by next week, ARY News reported.

Addressing the media, along with Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the finance minister said that the Board of Directors (BoD) of the Central bank will also be finalized in the ongoing week.

“The new SBP governor appointment will be finalised by next week,” he said, adding that the federal government will not artificially control the currency value. Miftah Ismail said that there will be appreciation and stability in the value of Pak rupee after the coalition government announced to complete its tenure.

To a question, Miftah said the country has sufficient stock of diesel, furnace oil, and motor gasoline for two months. volatile

Commenting on current political situation in the country in wake of recent Punjab by-polls, Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said PML-N has consolidated its position in the recent by-elections in Punjab as its vote bank has increased in the 20 Punjab by-poll constituencies as compared to 2018 general elections.

The PML-N had won five seats, including the one grabbed by an independent, who is also a PML-N loyalist, said Asif and added that all the 20 constituencies, where a by-election was held, were previously won by the PTI in General Election 2018.

The minister went on to say that PTI Chief Imran Khan had once dubbed Pervaiz Elahi as the biggest dacoit of Punjab and now he is supporting him [Elahi] as Punjab CM candidate.

Administrative crisis at SBP

An administrative crisis is in the offing at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) after three members of the Board of Directors (BoD) of the Central bank will retire tomorrow, it emerged today.

The members of the board of directors (BoD) retiring on July 22 (tomorrow) included Dr Tariq Hasan, Ali Jamil and Saleem Sethi.  It is necessary for the board meeting to have four members to decide on key matters of the SBP.

Furthermore, the SBP currently does not have a permanent governor as Deputy Governor Murtaza Syed is running the affairs as the acting governor.