President Asif Ali Zardari, on Wednesday, appointed Yasin Anwar as Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for a three year term.
A press release issued by the Presidency said, on a summary moved by the Ministry of Finance and on the advice of Prime Minister Gillani and President Asif Ali Zardari approved the appointment of Yasin Anwar as Governor State Bank of Pakistan.
He was working as the acting Governor SBP since July 18, when the former Governor Shahid Hafeez Kardar quit the office after differences with the government on the revenue collection figures for the last fiscal year. He has also served as the acting governor when former Governor Saleem Raza quit office in 2010.
The newly appointed Governor later called on Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday. According to the handout issued after the meeting, Prime Minister asked the Governor to keep him abreast with the state of economy and take measures to maintain the financial discipline in the country. Governor SBP assured the PM that he would try to come up to expectations of the democratic government and to implement the monetary policy of the central bank in letter and spirit.
An official source said that the new governor had already towed the official line by lowering the interest rate as the government was under immense pressure of the private sector to reduce the interest rates that have nearly halted new investment in economy. SBP, under the former Governor Shahid Kardar had maintained a strong stance by keeping a high interest rate which it termed necessary to maintain the inflation.
Kardar had been speaking vehemently against the uncontrollable government borrowing from the central bank which was forcing the bank to print Rs2 billion notes per day. He had been strongly advocating reducing government’s expenditures, borrowing from the central bank and taking measures for generating more revenues. His argument was that without these steps the government would lead the country to high inflation and low revenue generation scenario. Another worry for the government was the quarterly reports of the SBP which were in contrast to many of the projections of the Finance Ministry. The appointment of new Governor will also help control the independent stance of the central bank the source said.
