ADVISER on Finance Shaukat Tarin is now all set to again become Finance Minister of the country after being elected on the Senate seat from Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa.
Tarin was first appointed as the Finance Minister by the PTI government on April 17 and his constitutional tenure ended on October 16 after which he was appointed as the Finance Adviser to the PM.
According to the Constitution, in order to continue as the Finance Minister for longer than six months, Tarin needed to be elected to Parliament.
Tarin’s election on the Senate seat really indicates the trust that Prime Minister Imran Khan has on his capability, who ever since assuming the charge of the Finance Ministry has brought optimism and given a new direction and approach aimed at taking the country towards sustainable economic growth whilst ensuring that its benefit also reaches the deprived segments of the society.
For this, he came up with the historic Kamyab Pakistan Program under which interest-free loans will be given both in the rural and urban areas in order to help the underprivileged stand on their own feet.
Tarin is known for his long and illustrious banking career where he transformed banks such as Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and there are great expectations from him to do the same with the country’s economy.
It is understandable that there is no quick solution but continuing with Tarin as Finance Minister will ensure the continuity of policies.
He undoubtedly has full understanding of the country’s longstanding economic problems and we are confident that he will guide in the right direction to steer it out of them.
The immediate challenge for him is to curtail the burgeoning current account deficit which reached a $ 7 billion in the first five months of current fiscal year.
Then, the issue of inflation which though is an international phenomenon yet is costing the government on political front.
One saw its recent manifestation in the local bodies’ elections of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Regardless of the fact that the PTI government has taken a number of important steps especially of providing all households there with health cards, the JUI (F) outsmarted the ruling party.
The economic team led by Tarin will have to come up with measures to put a check on prices and provide immediate relief to the common man.
