KARACHI, Dec 10: The State Bank of Pakistan on Monday announced establishment of chairs in the economics department of five Pakistani universities to pay homage to its past governors.

The State Bank has also set up an endowment fund of Rs50 million, which would be distributed among the five universities to fund these chairs.

The chair to be set up at Karachi University will be in name of the late Zahid Hussain, while Punjab University will have a chair in name of the late Abdul Qadir. The chairs in Sindh, Peshawar and Balochistan universities will be named after the late S.A Hasnie, the late M. Raschid and the late Osman Ali respectively.

A steering committee, consisting of a representative of the State Bank and the university concerned, will oversee operation of the endowment fund as well as all affairs related to the chairs.

In an allied move, the State Bank has also decided to institute two Phd scholarships in economics for deserving students: one at Quaid-i-Azam University and the other at the Pakistan Institute of Development economics, Islamabad, in the name of its two former deputy governors, the late Dr S.A Meenai and Dr Ziauddin Ahmed.

In addition, a scholarship in the name of a former director of the State Bank, Nazeer Ahmed Chaudhry, will be awarded to students working for a Master’s Degree in statistics.

The other scholarship endowed by the family of the late Zahid Hussain — the first governor of the State Bank — and supplemented by a grant by the State Bank of Pakistan, is specifically meant for deserving girl students from poor families in Balochistan working for a Master’s degree in economics.—PPI