Senate Finance Committee Rebukes SBP for Junior-Level Reply to Governor's Letter
Senators on the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue objected after a deputy director answered a letter addressed to the State Bank of Pakistan's governor on foreign exchange issues affecting lawmakers.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue has voiced strong objections to the State Bank of Pakistan after a deputy director responded to a letter that had been addressed directly to the central bank's governor, according to committee proceedings. The letter concerned foreign exchange difficulties raised by members of parliament.
The committee, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, questioned why the governor neither replied personally nor delegated the matter to a more senior official. Members rejected the response submitted by Deputy Director Salman Shah, arguing that the lawmakers' concerns warranted attention at a higher level of the central bank.
Mandviwalla expressed displeasure over how the matter was handled, describing a reply from a junior official as inappropriate given the significance of the issues raised. The committee maintained that the governor or another senior SBP official should have addressed the concerns rather than leaving them to a deputy director.
As a result, the panel decided to seek an explanation from the central bank's senior management over why the letter was processed at a lower administrative level. The move underscores growing scrutiny of the SBP's responsiveness to parliamentary correspondence on matters affecting elected representatives.
The exchange highlights friction between the Senate finance committee and the central bank over protocol and the handling of lawmakers' constituency-related issues, particularly those involving access to foreign exchange. The committee's decision means the SBP's senior leadership will be required to account for the routing of the original letter.
The State Bank has not publicly commented on the committee's objections. The matter is expected to be taken up further once the central bank's senior management responds to the committee's request for an explanation.
