Principal Economic Advisor to Ministry of Finance Sakib Sherani on Thursday relinquished the charge. It is reliably learnt here on Thursday that the resignation of Sherani, a top economist, was accepted by the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and he would no longer be officially associated with the Ministry of Finance from Friday (today).
He joined MoF as member Economic Advisory Council (EAC), a body constituted by the Prime Minister after the economic crisis to give input to the government to formulate economic policy for putting the country on path to economic stability. When Shaukat Tarin became Finance Minister he appointed Sherani as principle economic advisor to the Ministry of Finance and has been engaged with the task to prepare a plan for reforming State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
He also guided the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on reforms in the tax administration with the help of authentic database on revenue projections. In many areas of reforms, he managed to convince the tax authorities for taking measures to increase revenue collection without having direct impact on the general masses. He has full command over the tax laws particularly key tax policy issues.
An official said that when Shaukat Tarin was Finance Minister Sherani was actively involved in preparation of economic reforms programme largely known as "9-point" plan to reform the economy, as well as give input in Value Added Tax (VAT) along with Dr Ehtisham and was also part of the economic team that negotiated Stand-By Arrangement with International Monetary Fund in October 2008. However, after the resignation of former Finance Minister and with the change of economic team of the government, Sherani was in fact sidelined.
His resignation twice before, in June and July this year, is said to have been turned down and he was asked to continue. Sherani's primary responsibility as Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance was to keep informing the financial and political leadership of the country about the state of economy.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.