After the top level reshuffle in the finance ministry hierarchy last week, Abdul Wajid Rana assumed the charge of Secretary Finance, Dr Waqar Masud Khan took charge as Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD), while senior customs officer Mumtaz Haider Rizvi assumed the post of Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday.
On February 11, the government shifted the incumbent Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masud Khan to EAD. He was replaced with Wajid Rana who was previously Secretary EAD. While Member Customs Mumtaz Haider Rizvi was assigned the post of chairman FBR in place of Mahmood Alam, who was appointed secretary federal tax ombudsman. All the officers remained busy on Monday receiving congratulations from the public and private sector on their new charge.
The establishment division notified upgrading post of member customs to BS-22 already held by Mumtaz Haider Rizvi and he also assumed the additional charge of the Chairman FBR. Highly respected Rizvi is a senior officer of the customs group. Mehmood Alam, a BS-22 officer of the customs group, relinquished charge of the post of member strategic planning and statistics and officiating charge of Chairman FBR with effect from February 13 to join elevated position of secretary, federal tax ombudsman’s office secretariat.
Official sources said the top officials will be faced with the daunting task of strengthening the economy and will be requiring strong support of each other to face the challenges. The immediate task before the new secretary finance and chairman FBR will be to strengthen the tax recovery to retain the fiscal deficit in the budgetary limit. Their performance will set the new relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which remains highly skeptical of the government’s economic policies.
Giving the charge of FBR to a customs group officer is very significant as it will help address many concerns of the tax officials due to the posting of other cadre officers mainly those of DMG. A tax official on the top post knows the loop holes and will be helpful in bridging the gaps required to meet the ambitious revenue target of Rs1952 billion for the current fiscal year, the source said.