Tag: Abdul Hafeez Sheikh

  • Hammad Azhar to replace Hafeez Shaikh as Finance Minister

    Hammad Azhar to replace Hafeez Shaikh as Finance Minister

    The federal government has decided to replace Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh with Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar.

    Hafeez Shaikh shall be replaced by Hammad Azhar because according to Article 91 (9) of the constitution, a person who is not part of the parliament can be minister for only six months.

    However, to become a minister again, the individual should be elected to one of the two houses of parliament, Senate or National Assembly.

    Hafeez Shaikh had a period of six months to be elected as a member of the assembly. For that purpose, the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chose Hafeez as a candidate for Senate elections, which he could not win. Therefore, the government has selected Hammad Azhar as his replacement.

    Hafeez had been serving as an advisor to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on finance before he was appointed federal minister.

    He was given the portfolio after the Islamabad High Court ruled that unelected advisors and special assistants cannot head government committees.

    Muhammad Hammad Azhar has held his current portfolio since April 6, 2020. Previously, he served as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs from July 10, 2019 till April 5, 2020.

    PM Imran reportedly conveyed to Hafeez Shaikh to step down from his role, and a notification in this regard is also expected to be released soon.

    Hammad Azhar tweeted that he is “honoured to be entrusted with the additional charge of Finance by the Prime Minister”.

  • ‘Pakistan has the potential to become an economic hub,’ says Asian Development Bank

    ‘Pakistan has the potential to become an economic hub,’ says Asian Development Bank

    The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that Pakistan has huge potential for economic progress given its strategic location and youthful growing population.

    In an interview, Country Director of ADB for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang said: “Pakistan has the potential to become a regional hub for trade and economic activity but the major impediment is weak connectivity and trade links. Moreover, the COVID-19 has pandemic caused a sharp downturn in 2020, and is likely to push more people into poverty.”

    Yang also said that ADB is taking major steps in providing critical finance to the government to implement it’s pro-poor fiscal and monetary policy, and to deal with the impacts of the pandemic, adding that ADB has also financed a $2 billion loans to help Pakistan overcome the pandemic challenges.

    ADB is working towards introducing best practices, sharing knowledge and trying to develop capacity building through partnerships will all stakeholders, says Yang.

    The bank has also devised a new partnership strategy (2021-2025) for Pakistan. It is designed to restore growth and economic stability by deploying sovereign and non-sovereign operations to support infrastructure, agribusiness, and finance sector investment.

    ADB will target reforms that boost competitiveness and private sector development, create jobs and drive market innovation.