Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will have had a confusing first couple of weeks in office. The former banking CEO took over the finance ministry on the 11th of March and hit the ground running in his negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
His first success in office was securing the last part of the Standby Agreement Pakistan was party to with the fund and he was also quick to announce Pakistan would have to go to the fund again for a significantly larger bailout package.
His entry into office was marked immediately by relief from the country’s economic observers, a sentiment that was made audible by how markets responded to his appointment. One might say that the positive reaction had more to do with Ishaq Dar not becoming finance minister than with anything else. But Aurangzeb does bring a degree of competence that has otherwise been missing over at Q-block.
Yet it might have been difficult for him to adjust in his new role considering he was basically snubbed by the prime minister when he decided to maintain chairmanship of the Economic Coordination Committee and also allowed Ishaq Dar, who is supposed to be managing the country’s foreign relations, into matters such as privatisation.
Since then, following plenty of backlash, Mr Sharif has given his finance Czar control of the ECC once again which is the all important cabinet committee that handles day to day affairs. For now it seems that he has once again asserted his place in the cabinet. The challenge that lies ahead for Mr Aurangzeb is managing politics as a non-politician.
While he does have some degree of political pedigree, his father having been Attorney General of Pakistan on two different occasions, he has positioned himself as a professional minister. He has also submitted nomination papers to the upper house of parliament as a technocrat.
Mr Aurangzeb should be well aware that his predecessor and cabinet colleague Ishaq Dar does very much still care about having a say in how the economy is run. While Pakistan is facing a myriad of challenges, tackling Mr Dar will be as big a challenge as any. It seems that Mr Aurangzeb is backed to be in office by those that matter. But he must hold his nerve in the face of internal challenges as well if he has any chance of doing any good with the office he is now the custodian of.
