Dr.
Shamshad Akhtar
Dr.
Shamshad Akhtar took over as Governor, State Bank of Pakistan on January
02, 2006 for a three-year term. Dr. Akhtar, who is the first woman and the 14th
Governor of the State Bank since its inception in July, 1948 brings rich
experience, both national and international, to her new assignment.
Prior to her appointment as SBP Governor, Dr. Akhtar has been serving the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) as its Director General, Southeast Asia Department since
January, 2004. Earlier, she was Deputy Director General of the Department. She
also held the position of Director, Governance, Finance and Trade Division for
East and Central Asia Department of ADB.
Dr. Akhtar began her career in ADB in 1990 and rose to the position of Manager
in 1998 after serving as Senior and Principal Financial Sector Specialist. She
has been ADB’s Coordinator for APEC Finance Ministers Group from 1998-2001 and
has served on a number of ADB committees including the Reorganization
Committee, Appeals Committee and Oversight Committee etc. She has interfaced and
represented the Asian Development Bank at the Bank for International
Settlements and the International Organization of Securities Commissions
(IOSCO). She has developed a broad regional expertise in financial and economic
matters of Central Asian Republics & Southeast Asia including the People’s
Republic of China.
Before joining the ADB, Dr. Akhtar worked for 10 years as an Economist in the
World Bank’s Resident Mission in Pakistan. In Pakistan, she also worked briefly
with the Planning Offices of both the Federal and Sindh Governments. She dealt
with wide ranging subjects which covered analysis of macroeconomic situation,
finance and money and structural reforms of key sectors including industry and
agriculture. Her work included papers on taxation system of Pakistan, state of
inter-governmental fiscal relations, poverty incidence & its dimensions and
foreign direct investment etc. Dr. Akhtar also contributed to the development
of diversification of financial markets including the analysis of monetary policy
and state of banking industry (at the World Bank) and restructuring of the
Securities & Exchange Commission, Insurance Commission and worked closely
with the private sector including the stock exchanges of Pakistan. She has been
advising the central banks on reforms of financial markets. Dr. Akhtar has also
been dealing with the banking sector’s legal, regulatory and institutional
reforms while advising on diversification of the industry to exploit long term
funding through development of bond market.
Born in Hyderabad, Dr. Akhtar had her earlier education at Karachi and
Islamabad. She has had an excellent academic record. She graduated from the
University of Punjab with a B. A. Economics degree in 1974. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar
has an M.Sc. in Economics from the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, an M.A.
in Development Economics from the University of Sussex in 1977 and a Ph.D. in
Economics from the U.K.’s Paisley College of Technology in 1980. She is a
post-doctoral fellowship Fulbright Scholar and was a visiting fellow at the
Department of Economics, Harvard University in 1987.
Dr.
Akhtar has presented numerous papers on economics and finance at international
conferences/seminars/symposia. Her research interests are on Monetary and
Fiscal Policy, Banking and Capital Market, International Finance Architecture,
Regulation and Supervision, and Industrial & Corporate Restructuring.
The number of women in governor roles rose to 29 this year
from 23 last year, though that left the share of female leaders at just 16% of
the world’s 185 central banks, according to an April report by the
Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. Greater gender balance in
senior positions may help increase the diversity of thought and checks and
balances, in turn contributing to increased economic and financial stability
and improved performance, IMF research shows.
Appointments this year in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Papua
New Guinea are examples of how smaller economies are driving more progress on
gender balance, according to OMFIF, a London-based think tank for monetary,
economic and investment issues.
This year’s rise was the biggest gain in more than a decade
of surveys, but the Chart of the Week shows how central banks still
have much room to make progress toward greater parity in the ranks of top
policymakers steering the global economy.
The tally adds to evidence of the struggle of women at
central banks as well as in the economics discipline, where they remain
underrepresented even after steady gains.
A first-of-its-kind IMF survey of the European
Central Bank and its Group of Seven counterparts showed last year that fewer
than half of employees at those institutions are women, but on average only a
third of women are economists or managers. This survey underscores how policies
to eliminate gender gaps have been only partially successful.
ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel has cited a
substantial gender imbalance in economics—one that the institution is
determined to change among its own staff. Schnabel noted in a 2020 speech that
the barriers aren’t insurmountable, and that mentoring opportunities and
ensuring childcare can help narrow gender imbalances.
The latest additions to the list of countries naming a woman
as central bank chief came in January, when Jasmina Selimović began a
six-year term in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Elizabeth Genia was
appointed to the top job after serving as acting governor. Last year, Michele
Bullock became the first woman to lead the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Cambodia, Georgia, Moldova and Montenegro also appointed
women as the heads of their monetary authorities last year, according to
OMFIF’s 2024 gender balance index.
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