Kamran Afzal new Secretary Finance

ISLAMABAD: After Naveed Kamran Baloch relieved the charge as Secretary Finance, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday appointed Kamran Afzal on this important position with the assignment to steer the economy out of the crisis mode.

The newly-appointed secretary finance will have to face the challenge of reviving the stalled IMF programme in such a way that it does not burden the economy and voiceless consumers of the energy sector. A notification of the appointment of Kamran Afzal as Secretary Finance was issued by the Establishment Division on Thursday.

There were some other strong contenders such as Zafar Hassan, Ali Raza Bhutta and Mohsin Chandna. Secretary Cabinet Division Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera was not among the contenders because he had already touched the peak of his career.

Without moving any summary, the government made this important appointment. There is one Secretaries Committee and this committee was also not consulted this time.

Outgoing Secretary Finance Naveed Kamran Baloch has been appointed as Executive Director in the World Bank (WB) and he is going to join his new position based in Washington, DC, next week but formally he will join after the New Year holidays. Naveed Kamran Baloch got retired from civil service after reaching the age of superannuation.

Kamran Afzal has been appointed as Secretary Finance with immediate effect. He has served as Additional Secretary Finance on external front. Currently, he was serving as Special Secretary, Ministry of Finance, for the last few months.

Kamran Afzal possessed PhD Political Economy from University of Melbourne, Australia in 2011. He had done Masters of Public Policy and Management from University of Melbourne, Australia in 2003. He did his Masters in Economics from Government College, Lahore in 1995.

He held key positions in different ministries/divisions as he had served as Additional Secretary Finance external wing in BS-21 and devised structuring and implementation of reform program in coordination with development partners like WB, IMF, IFAD, ADB, AIIB, USAID, UNDP; liaising with SBP on matters relating to foreign exchange reserves, raising finances for balance of payment position and budgetary support.

He had served as additional finance secretary investment and additional secretary PM Office during his earlier appointments.