The induction of Muhammad Augrangzeb as the new Finance Minister probably marks a return to the domination of experts. Bringing in the head of the country’s largest bank means that Ishaq Dar will not be Finance Minister. Instead he will be Foreign Minister. Mian Nawaz Sharif has done this before, when in 1998, he removed Sartaj Aziz and replaced him with Ishaq Dar. Though the PM is now Shehbaz Sharif, this particular piece of sleight of hand bears the elder brother’s stamp. It reflects a return to the old model of a technocrat Finance Minister, and it poses the problem of finding Mr Aurangzeb a seat in Parliament. Ironically, that problem was faced when bringing in Mr Dar, but he has since acclimatized himself to the Senate. Coincidentally, Senate elections are due, and he can be found a seat there. Those elections will be useful for accommodating the two retentions from the caretaker period, Mohsin Naqvi and Ahad Cheema.
Finding a seat is the least of Mr Aurangzeb’s problems. A date has come through for the beginning of talks with the IMF, which is the first task on his to-do list. Not only does he have to negotiate the final tranche of the current Stand-By Arrangement, but he has to negotiate another longer-term agreement, to cover $3 billion provided over three years. Depending on how those talks go, the next task will be determined, which will be to prepare, present and pass the Federal Budget. His boss, Mian Shehbaz, presented the last as one of the last things he did before leaving office; now he will be back to take up where he left off.
Mr Aurangzeb will come to a task which has broken four technocrats in as many years, whether it be Dr Hafeez Pasha or Shaukat Tarin of the PTI, Miftah Ismail of the PML(N) or the caretaker Dr Shamshad Akhtar, that of fixing the economy, so that both the IMF is satisfied as well as the ordinary consumer, who is hard-pressed and increasingly desperate. Mr Aurangzeb’s performance will be watched carefully to see whether a Finance Minister who does not depend on popular votes can deliver for politicians at last. Mr Aurangzeb’s selection is evidence that no politician wants the Finance portfolio, not just because it is supposedly technical, but also because it involves taking the blame for the sputtering economy.
