'Past rulers misused central bank': Shaukat Tarin defends SBP law

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance took up  the controversial State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill 2021 on Monday.

“Standing Committee on Finance hearing on the #StateBank autonomy law in the #NationalAssembly underway,” PPP MNA Nafisa Shah tweeted, sharing pictures of the meeting.

Standing Committee on Finance hearing on the #StateBank autonomy law in the #NationalAssembly underway. pic.twitter.com/4bWkUJf6pA

— Nafisa Shah (@ShahNafisa) January 10, 2022

At the start of the meeting, PPP MNA Syed Naveed Qamar said this was an important law that should be discussed provision-wise, to which the finance minister replied that he was aware of the fact and that the committee can ponder it in a whatever manner it wants.

He said a central bank enjoys complete autonomy around the world but the State Bank of Pakistan was relegated to a money hiding machine and past rulers misused it.

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Tarin claimed Rs7 trillion had been borrowed from the SBP before the PTI government assumed power. However, he added, the incumbent government has borrowed no money from the central bank over the past three years.

Addressing the opposition lawmakers’ concerns, he said the government would appoint a board of governors of the SBP that will work under the oversight of Parliament. We strengthened Parliament, he added.

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He said the central bank won’t have powers to take decisions unilaterally and will be controlled by a board governors to be appointed by the government. All objections to the previous bill granting the SBP autonomy have been addressed, he said.

Under the new law, he said the finance minister and SBP governor will jointly take important decisions.