Pakistan Appoints Raza Central Bank Governor After Akhtar Quits: Bloomberg

By Cherian Thomas and Khaleeq Ahmed

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan appointed Saleem Raza, a former Citigroup Inc. executive, as governor of the central bank after Shamshad Akhtar said she will step down from the post as the nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in a decade.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani “expressed confidence that the new governor, who has sound experience in the financial sector and international banking, would work to the best of his abilities to meet the enormous economic challenges,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office in Islamabad.

The new leader of the State Bank of Pakistan will have to subdue inflation running at more than 24 percent while economic growth is slowing. The governor will also have to deal with conditions imposed last month by theInternational Monetary Fund when it lent $7.6 billion to buffer the nation’s depleting foreign-exchange reserves.

“It’s a pretty challenging situation,” said Sakib Sherani, country economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Islamabad. “The risk is the new person may not be up to speed with the nuances of monetary policy. Continuity would have been good.”

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