In an anticipated move, the government on Tuesday made yet another change in its core economic team by giving an exit to Dr Waqar Masood Khan, an aide to the prime minister on finance, and also removed Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Asim Ahmad.
Dr Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmad, a Grade 21 officer of the Inland Revenue Service, has been made the new FBR chairman –the seventh by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in three years.
On an average, each chairperson remained just five months and 15 days in office.
There are also chances that Finance Secretary Yousaf Khan could also be transferred, the sources said. Yousaf Khan had been brought in by Dr Waqar. Some other changes in the Finance Division and FBR are also expected.
Dr Waqar, who remained in office for less than 10 months, opted to bow out after he could not develop sustainable working relationship with Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin despite taking a good start four months ago, sources told The Express Tribune.
Dr Waqar has resigned as special assistant to the PM on finance and revenue, sources close to him confirmed. They said that the premier has accepted the resignation.
Dr Waqar, a veteran bureaucrat, had been brought in the PM’s economic team in October last year. He had promised the prime minister to broaden the tax base and increase the tax collection –the two objectives that largely remained unfulfilled.
The government removed the FBR chairman for his mishandling the most successful cyberattack on the country’s biggest data centre, from which the FBR still could not fully recover even after 10 days.
