English Speaking Union of Pakistan hosted the former governor State Bank of Pakistan, Yaseen Anwar, inviting him to speak on ‘The pandemic: challenges and trends for the global economy and Pakistan’. Aziz Memon, President ESUP welcomed the guest and introduced him to the audience. He mentioned that Yaseen Anwar has very distinctively served as Governor State Bank of Pakistan for seven years and during his tenure he negotiated and signed the country’s first Currency Swap Agreements with China and Turkey and in 2012, becoming only the 7th Central Bank to sign an Agency Agreement with the People’s Bank of China to invest in local government bonds.
Aziz Memon added that as Governor of the central bank he served on the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) Financial Stability Board (FSB) and on the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to the Central Bank, he worked in New York, London, Paris, and Egypt with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch in various senior capacities. He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania Yaseen Anwar possesses rich and exceptional experience of economic matters spanning more than forty years and tthroughout his career he has disseminated his knowledge and expertise to large audiences and is widely known as an active keynote speaker on multiple topics.
Yaseen Anwar began by stating that in a world of uncertainty and the impact of global developments, including COVID-19, economic policymakers will face many challenging and unprecedented headwinds. In these circumstances, three themes — the Belt and Road Initiative, climate change and technology with sustainable finance — will play as the underlying feature and core areas in bringing value to the financial industry, economy and the world as a whole.
He added that China today has become even more attractive due to its resilience and stability in managing COVID-19 with its hospitals and health officials in a coordinated way. About the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that its underlying infrastructure, the core of its funding, is and has been the engine of growth for most economies.
He specified that due to lockdowns, the use of online orders for shopping or food has been the backbone of survival for those who have had access to technology. Adapting to digital banking and operating from home has elevated corporate executives on how to manage during severe business interruptions. Small businesses have been hit hard and fintech companies will fill up this space more and more. He emphasised, “We must ensure policymakers consider all these issues and work in a collective and coordinated manner towards global growth in a multipolar world that uniformly benefits the planet.” TW
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