Mariam Kayani made adviser to IMF ED

On Wednesday, the federal government named Mariam Kayani, a BPS-20 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, as adviser to the executive director of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, according to Business Recorder. The posting is a three-year deputation, and she is currently joint secretary in the Finance Division, where she previously worked in the external finance wing.

The selection followed a process that began earlier this year, after the Finance Ministry proposed three officials for the Washington post. In July, a ministerial committee formed by the Prime Minister's Office interviewed the nominees, and people with knowledge of the process said Kayani was chosen after she appeared before it. The other two nominees were Moazam Raza and Nadeem Ahsan, both joint secretaries, and all three had spent long periods working in the ministry.

Kayani succeeds Saifullah Dogar, whose three-year term as senior adviser is complete, and sources said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected a Finance Ministry proposal to extend him. Over 18 years she has covered sovereign financing, legislative drafting, district administration and policy work, and has led teams at both federal and provincial levels. In her new post she will help the executive director with Executive Board business, such as financing requests, Article IV consultation reports and policy papers, for a constituency of eight member countries.