Senate Standing Committee on Finance approves IDBP (Reorganization and Conversion) Act 2010

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Planning and Economic Affairs on Thursday unanimously approved Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP) (Reorganization and Conversion) Act 2010. The Committee met here in the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Ahmad Ali and was attended by members of the committee, Senators, Professor Ghafoor Ahmad, Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, Islamudin Shikh, Haroon Khan, Kulsoom Parveen and Ishaq Dar. Federal Minister for Finance Dr.Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Secretary Finance  Dr.Waqar Masood, Deputy Governor State Bank and other officials participated in the meeting.The committee directed the Ministry of Finance to submit a report about the progress in this regard in six months whereas the committee postponed State Bank Amendment bill 2010 till the next meeting on request of Ministry  of Finance.The Committee was told that the purpose of State Bank amendment bill 2010 was to make the bank more autonomous.For this purpose a Monetary  Policy Committee would replace Monetary and Fiscal Policies Coordination  Board which would be responsible for making decisions regarding monetary policies, to implement those decisions and status of the loans issued to the government.The committee was further told that since February 2007, not a single meeting  of coordination Board was held.On which the members of the committee expressed their concern and asked that how the monetary policies were being made without the consultation of the board.Dr. Hafeez Shaikh said that it is a sensitive issue and it should be discussed on high level in order to ensure a permanent and effective solution.He said that he himself had asked the Governor of SBP to participate in the committee’s next meeting.Senator Prof. Ghafoor Ahmad said that a comprehensive system should be developed for the autonomy of the Central Bank in which bank’s performance must be checked properly.Senator Ishaq Dar suggested that for unanimous legislation of this important issue a joint meeting of standing committees of both houses should be called.Dr.Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, lauding the performance of the committee said that the committee was making good efforts for legislation.The Committee was informed that the reorganization of IDBP was decided in 2001. In 2005 it was submitted in the National Assembly but it was not approved.The Committee was further informed that for the privatization of IDBP, the process of reorganization is needed. After the legislation Ministry of Finance would issue an order and within six month the process of privatization would be completed. Till the privatization of the Bank it would continue working under SBP – APP