ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani economist, Jameel Ahmad, has formally taken charge as the country’s central bank governor for the next five years after his appointment was approved by the president earlier this month, said the bank in a social media post on Saturday.
Ahmad has started performing his duties as the top official of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) at a time when the country is witnessing tough economic challenges, including soaring inflation.
The SBP governor’s post was vacant since its former occupant, Reza Baqir, left in May.
“Mr. Jameel Ahmad has assumed the charge of Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, after his appointment by the President of Pakistan for a period of 5 years in pursuance of Section 11 A (1) of SBP Act 1956,” the bank announced in a Twitter post.
According to Ahmad’s profile shared by the central bank, he has spent over 31 years at various positions at the SBP and the Saudi central bank.
“Mr. Jameel Ahmad has extensive experience of working at senior positions at SBP in areas of Monetary Policy and Operations, Treasury, Banking Policy & Regulation, Banking Supervision, Development Finance, Payment Systems and Financial Resource Management,” said a central bank notification.
Speaking to Arab News after Ahmad’s appoint earlier in August, financial analysts said the new central bank governor would be facing several challenges, including taming high inflation and shoring up forex reserves.
“The top most challenge the governor of central bank would face is to control inflation as in July 2022 it was recorded at 24.9 percent and it is expected that it would remain high in August,” Tahir Abbas, research head at the Karachi-based Arif Habib Limited brokerage firm, said.
“The second challenge would be to build up the country’s forex reserves that are at very low level, [barely enough] to cater imports of less than two months,” he continued. “The third challenge would be setting a monetary policy that enables to counter inflation by avoiding recession.”
Abbas said Ahmad would also need to review the schemes announced by the central bank, including Roshan Digital Account, to reverse the withdrawal trend by offering attractive rates.
