Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday unceremoniously removed Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh due to differences over the International Monetary Fund programme, particularly on recommending sweeping governor-centric powers to the central bank. According to Shibli, Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to bring in a new finance team in view of "inflation that had taken place". A cabinet source told The Express Tribune that the prime minister was not happy with Shaikh for the past almost 10 days. Like the first PTI finance minister Asad Umar, Azhar too is the choice of Prime Minister Imran Khan and is considered to be his close confidante. The IMF board last Tuesday approved four reviews of Pakistan’s economy and the release of the next loan tranche.

Source: The Express Tribune March 30, 2021 04:14 UTC