24th February 2009
The rumors that were circulating for almost a month that Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was quitting the government, were finally confirmed yesterday when PM Gilani accepted his resignation to be effective from February 28th.
The Prime Minister appreciated the contribution of Shaukat Tarin in turning around and stabilizing the national economy, according to the government press release. He expressed hope that Tarin would continue to extend his invaluable advice to the government in the National Economic Advisory Council.
Tarin in his resignation said that he was resigning for ‘personal reasons’ as he had to focus on his family business, and he could not do so precisely since it would be a clear ‘conflict of interest’ while serving as Minister for Finance, Planning, Revenue and Economic Affairs.
Soon after joining the federal cabinet, Tarin was able to secure an $11.2 billion bail-out package from the International Monetary Fund when the country was on the verge of default for the repayment of foreign loans. Another achievement of Mr. Tarin is considered to be the 7th National Finance Commission Award.
Unofficially, however, it is being said that Shaukat Tarin had developed differences over the Rental Power Projects (RPPs). He had stopped the overpayment to the highly controversial RPPs.The stock market reacted negatively to the news of Tarin stepping down: the KSE lost 129 points on Tarin’s resignation and a confirmation of a 10 per cent capital gains tax to be put on the purchase of shares.
