Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin assured on Monday that the central bank would still remain under the government’s control after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill 2021 gets passed.
The finance minister made these remarks in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs.
He said that the names of the central bank’s board of directors would be proposed by the government.
The meeting of the Senate committee was held with a session of the lower house underway, however, the SBP bill was not the focus of discussion.
The SBP Amendment Act 2021 is among the major conditions put in place by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to put the $6 billion loan programme back on track.
Tarin informed the committee that there would be a small increase in inflation following the passage of the supplementary finance bill. The finance minister proposed to impose taxes on cosmetics, drinks and agriculture products.
On the other hand, Governor SBP Raza Baqir rejected the assertion that the government was attempting to sell the central bank to the IMF. He said that everyone could view the bill and that the government’s powers had not been reduced.
Separately, the IMF rescheduled its sixth review of Pakistan’s loan programme. The global financial body made the decision to do so after receiving a request from Pakistan.
