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One of the well-known economic experts of the country, expert in hazardous materials, Asad Umar has got the new job. This time, he is in charge of managing Pakistan’s economy.
The newly elected finance minister revealed that a few decades ago, he couldn’t import chemicals via Karachi port because of the incompetent safety measures at storage terminal of the port. So, he decided to construct a new unit himself. From the senior official to the CEO, he worked his way up the ranks. He turned the company from a fertilizer maker to one of the country’s topmost conglomerates.
Asad is always willing to find unconventional was to meet the challenges. He tries to touch the bottom of the problem.
Being a finance minister of Pakistan, Asad Umar’s new position has a lot of problems waiting to be fixed. The country is in severe need of a bailout of over $12 billion. And He is the man of the moment who is leaving no stone unturned to save his country from knocking the door of IMF once again.
Country’s foreign-currency reserves have fallen down by a third to $9.9 billion in the past year. The country is facing twin deficits of more than 5 percent of gross domestic product on both of its budget and current account. The state bank of Pakistan has already devalued the country’s rupee four times since December.
Umar quoted in an interview before his appointment in the new office that “What needs to be done should be done in the next few weeks,”
“They should have been done six months back,” he added.
Along with this severe crisis, Umar has a bigger challenge as well, fixing decades of economic fluctuation of the country, the habitual behavior of relying on debt-funding, avoidance of income tax by masses, and delivering the prime minister’s vision of enhancing welfare spending.
Currently, only 1 percent of the country’s 200 million population file returns.
After taking the charge, the finance minister was eager to get the investment and business community on his side. For the cause, he formed an economic advisory council that is responsible for providing inputs on policies directly to the prime minister. Unfortunately, that move already become controversial by the public outcry on appointing an economist from a controversial non-muslim minority of the country. The govt kneel down to take the resignation of a controversial member from the council. Umar was criticized for staying silent on the issue.
Asad Umar is a fearless risk-taker. During his tenure as the head of Engro back in 2004, he expands the company by initiating the dairy business, the domain which was until largely dominated by the multinational giant Nestle. This strategy turned Engro into one of the country’s largest companies with a market value of 8 times more than what it was earlier.
However, Umar’s leadership has also witnessed some of the glitches as well. During his time, Engro was penalized by Pakistan’s antitrust agency for excessively jacking up fertilizer prices. On another occasion, Umar was in hot water after being pressurized by the investors back in 2011, when the gas shortages hit a newly-built fertilizer plant despite the assurance by the government.