In this episode, I talk with Governor Dr Reza Baqir who became the 20th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan in May 2019. He took the helm as Pakistan embarked on an ambitious reform plan which included an IMF programme. Before that, he was an 18-year veteran of the IMF and previously also worked at the World Bank. He was the Head of the IMF's Office in Egypt and Senior Resident Representative from 2017 to 2019. He has also held positions as IMF Mission Chief for Romania and Bulgaria, Division Chief of the IMF's Debt Policy Division, and Head of the IMF delegation to the Paris Club. His research has been published in top journals of the economics profession, including the Journal of Political Economy and the Quarterly Journal of Economics. In this podcast we discuss:
1. The state of Pakistan’s economy and financial markets before COVID hit
2. The reasons for and status of the IMF programme
3. How Pakistan’s markets behaved over COVID
4. The transition from a fixed FX regime to market-determined FX regime
5. The path of FX reserves
6. How the State Bank has shifted to an expected inflation target
7. COVID policies outside of cutting rates
8. Longer-term goals of boosting exports, financial inclusion and raising saving rates
9. How global institutions have responded to the COVID crisis versus GFC
10. The role of debt reduction rather than debt rescheduling for EM
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