ISLAMABAD, June 28: The prime minister in-waiting, Shaukat Aziz, is most likely to retain the portfolio of the finance minister after becoming the chief executive of the country in order to ensure continuity and consistency in economic policies.
Informed sources told Dawn here on Monday that President Gen Pervez Musharraf wanted Pakistan to remain "fiscally responsible" for which it was necessary for Mr Aziz to continue to be the finance minister.
Moreover, the president, the sources said, was of the view that since the prime minister in-waiting had played an important role in forging extremely fruitful relations with international donor agencies and bilateral creditors, he should continue to directly interact with them by retaining the portfolio of the finance minister.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had retained the portfolio of the finance minister during her first government. It was said that a minister of state for finance would be appointed.
Sources ruled out the possibility of appointing former minister for privatization and investment Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as the new finance minister due to what was termed "not having very cordial relations" with Mr Aziz.
However, circles close to the president maintained that Mr Aziz would have to "speed up" the economic reform programme to minimize various risks and that he would have to discourage federal and provincial legislators to seek undue favours as they had started doing during Mr Jamali's tenure.
The presidential camp blamed Mr Zafarullah Jamali for having failed in finalizing new National Finance Commission (NFC) award and removing differences among the provinces over water distribution. And Mr Aziz was now expected to sort out these unresolved issues by retaining the portfolio of the finance minister.
In this regard, it was also learnt that the prime minister in-waiting would also keep with him his present economic team. Sources said the Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance and the Director-General of the Debt Coordination Office, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, could be made secretary-general of the finance ministry or he would become the special assistant to the prime minister in-waiting to ensure continuity and consistency in economic policies.
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Omar Ayub, sources said, would continue to be working in his present position to deal with the day-to-day issues in the National Assembly.
