Governor
State Bank of Pakistan
Dr. Ishrat Husain took over the charge of the office of the Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, with effect from 2nd December 1999. Prior to his appointment as Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Ishrat Husain was Director for Central Asian Republics managing the World Bank's relations, programs and policies with these countries. Earlier, he was Director, Poverty and Social Policy Department of the World Bank responsible for the Bank's policies and strategy development in the areas of Poverty Reduction, Gender, NGOs and Public Sector Reform and Governance. He was Chairperson of the World Bank's Public Sector Group.
Dr. Husain served as Chief Economist for Africa between 1991-94 and later became Chief Economist of the World Bank for East Asia and Pacific region focusing mainly on China. He was Chief of the Debt and International Finance Division where he helped develop the World Bank's strategic approach to Latin American Debt Problems which subsequently resulted in the Bank's participation in the Brady Initiative of Debt Reduction. As the World Bank's Resident Representative in Nigeria he led the Bank's team that assisted Nigeria in formulating its Structural Adjustment program of 1986. Earlier on, he was responsible for designing World Bank's program to support Ghana's Economic Reform Program.
Dr. Husain has maintained an active scholarly interest in Pakistan's economic issues. His most recent book "Pakistan: The Economy of an Elitist State" is a culmination of a two year research project he undertook on Pakistan. His most recent paper on "The Political Economy of Reforms: Case Study of Pakistan" has been published by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (P.I.D.E). He is Adjunct Professor of Economics at Karachi University with supervision responsibilities for doctoral dissertations.
In addition to this work on Pakistan, Dr. Husain is the author of "Adjustment in Africa: Lessons from Case Studies", "Dealing with Debt Crisis", "African External Finance in 1990's", "Poverty and Adjustment: The Case of Africa", and several journal articles and papers on debt, external finance, and adjustment issues.
He has been a speaker, expert discussant and resource person at numerous international conferences and seminars on debt, and adjustment issues.Prior to joining the World Bank, he served in senior managerial positions in both the Planning and Development Department and Finance Department of the Government of Sind. He also served as Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) in Chittagong, Bangladesh. He was a member of the Government of Pakistan's panel of economists for their five-year Development Plans.
Dr. Husain holds a Masters degree in Development Economic from Williams College and a Doctorate in Economics from Boston University. He is a graduate of the Executive Development Program jointly sponsored by Harvard, Stanford and INSEAD.
Profile as of 4/18/2002