The Prime Minister’s Office has constituted a specialized ministerial committee to finalize the appointment of Pakistan’s next senior adviser to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. According to Finance Ministry officials, the committee will conduct interviews with three shortlisted senior bureaucrats currently serving in the ministry before recommending a final nominee for the Washington-based position. The selection process comes as the incumbent senior adviser, Saifullah Dogar, completes his three-year tenure, with official interview proceedings scheduled to begin before the end of the month.
The Finance Ministry has submitted three nominees for executive evaluation, all of whom possess extensive experience within federal financial administration. The candidates include Maryum Kayani, Joint Secretary Budget with prior tenure in the External Finance Wing; Moazam Raza, Joint Secretary in External Finance handling IMF relations; and Nadeem Ahsan, Joint Secretary overseeing engagements with other international financial institutions. While the Finance Ministry initially expressed a preference for Kayani, the Prime Minister’s Office directed the establishment of a ministerial committee to conduct formal evaluations across all three shortlisted officials.
The position of senior adviser carries broad responsibilities beyond bilateral Pakistan-IMF relations. The appointed official assists the IMF Executive Director, who represents a constituency of eight member countries on the IMF Executive Board. Core duties include analyzing member financing requests, reviewing Article IV staff reports, evaluating global policy papers, and contributing to board-level governance decisions. The government aims to complete the selection process prior to the start of the IMF’s fourth review negotiations, which are slated to commence around September 21, 2026.
The upcoming IMF review will coincide with a comprehensive Article IV assessment of Pakistan’s economy, evaluating broader macroeconomic dynamics, structural reform progress, and medium-term debt viability beyond the current seven billion dollar bailout facility. Official projections indicate gross external financing requirements of twenty-one billion dollars for the current fiscal year, rising to thirty billion dollars for the subsequent period. In addition to the IMF appointment, the federal government is moving to fill the post of adviser to the Asian Development Bank in Manila, following the recent appointment of Special Secretary Finance Nasheeta Mohsin as Pakistan’s Executive Director at the ADB.
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