Opposition PML-N leader Mohammad Zubair has expressed his party's reservations over the proposed bill which aims to grant unprecedented autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in line with the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zubair said the PML-N had no reservations on the SBP being an independent institution but did have reservations over the fact that the bill was being brought at the behest of the IMF, which he said would be dangerous for the country and said that the appointment of the SBP governor who he said was like the representative of the IMF was akin to a Viceroy being sent to rule of Pakistan.

He further added that if the bill is passed, the prime minister, the government, the finance minister and the Parliament would lose any and all control over the SBP, adding that under the new bill, all related SBP personnel such as the governor, deputy governors and executives — including former officeholders — were immune to any investigations from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The bill was cleared in a meeting of the federal cabinet on March 9 and aims to provide greater autonomy to the central bank over price control and fighting inflation by adopting exchange rate and monetary policy in an autonomous manner without the government’s interventions, Dawn reported