ISLAMABAD: Dr. Hafeez Shaikh has been appointed as Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance following resignation of Asad Umar from the slot of finance minister.
Asad Umar has resigned amid controversies on economic and policy decisions. Interestingly, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh, the nominated advisor to prime minister, was the finance minister during last tenure of Pakistan Peoples Party and he had also resigned in 2013, and the PPP government assigned Saleem Mandviwala for the post.
Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh is an internationally renowned economist with more than 30 years of experience in economic policy making, management and implementation.
Dr Shaikh has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in economics from Boston University. He had worked at Harvard University and World Bank, where he was country head for Saudi Arabia and as a Senior Official advised 21 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
He served as the finance minister from 2010 to 2013 during the PPP government’s rule.
During his tenure as federal minister, Dr Shaikh completed 34 sale transactions worth Rs300 billion in banking, telecom, electricity and manufacturing.
In 2000-2002, he was minister of finance, planning and development of Sindh.
He was then appointed as the minister for privatization and investment in the Pervez Musharraf administration.
The government on Thursday announced major reshuffle in the federal cabinet and appointed Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as Advisor on Finance and Senator Azam Swati as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, besides re-allocation of some ministers’ portfolios.
The PM Office issued relocation of ministries and advisories, revealing that Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has been made the Federal Minister for Science and Technology followed by Ghulam Sarwar (Federal Minister for Aviation); Ijaz Ahmed Shah (Federal Minister for Interior); and Shehryar Afridi (Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions).
Federal Minister for Privatization Mohammad Mian Soomro would cease to hold additional portfolio of Aviation Division.
Those who have been appointed as Special Assistants to the Prime Minister include:-
Dr Zafar Ullah Mirza (National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination); Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan (Information and Broadcasting Division); and Nadeem Babar (Petroleum Division).
