ISLAMABAD, March 25: Noted economist, author and former director of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Dr A.R. Kemal, died of cardiac arrest on Monday. He was 62.

Born in Amritsar (India) on April 14, 1946, Dr Kemal leaves behind a wife and two sons. His funeral prayers will be held at the International Islamic University’s new campus in Sector H-11 after Asr prayers and laid to rest in the H-11 Graveyard on Wednesday.

Both his admirers and colleagues paying tribute to the economist said that Dr Kemal believed in personal freedom combined with a conviction that free market was the best way of development.

“Pakistan has lost a very good economist”, Finance Ministry’s adviser Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan said. Economists like Dr Kemal are not born everyday in Pakistan, he added.

According to him, Dr Kemal had full knowledge of Pakistani economy.

“I remained associated with him for 29 years. He was my first research supervisor,” Dr Khan said.

Dr Kemal held a PhD degree in economics from Manchester University, UK, and master’s degree in economics from Stanford University, USA. He was also president of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists.

He was co-author and co-editor of 12 books and had 186 research articles published in various national and international journals and books. He also worked as consultant to various international organisations, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Unicef, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Prior to his appointment as the PIDE director, Dr Kemal served the government as chief economist, member of the Planning Commission and joint economic adviser to the Ministry of Finance.

Dr Kemal had been actively involved in economic policy making and has been a member of numerous government committees, task forces and commissions.

He was also a member of the restructuring committee of the Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank. He was member of the editorial advisory boards of various economic journals.

His well-wishers, civil society members and journalists, in their condolence messages termed his death a national loss.

APP adds: Speakers at a condolence meeting held at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University paid glowing tributes to Dr Kemal for “his unprecedented services to the nation, particularly in the field of economics”.