The Man Steering Pakistan's Economy Isn't Afraid to Take Risks
By Faseeh Mangi and Chris Kay
Umar wants to quickly get the business and investment community on side. One of his first steps since taking office was to set up advisory councils reporting directly to the prime minister where firms and economists can provide their input on policies. But that’s already run into controversy after pressure from religious conservatives forced a prominent economist from a Muslim minority sect to resign from one of the councils last week. Umar has faced criticism for staying silent on the issue.
The “government will have to walk a tightrope as it plans to increase development and social spending,” said Asif Khan, the Dubai-based chief financial officer of consultancy Delta Partners and no relation to Imran Khan. “All of this will clash with the need to further tighten monetary and fiscal policies to reduce economic vulnerabilities.”
Umar isn’t scared of taking risks. After becoming head of Engro in 2004, he diversified the company into the dairy business, an industry that was until then dominated by global giant Nestle SA. The move helped turn Engro into one of the nation’s biggest companies with a market value that’s now more than eight times larger.
His leadership wasn’t without fault: Engro was fined by Pakistan’s antitrust agency five years ago for excessively jacking up fertilizer prices. Umar also faced pressure from investors in 2011 when a newly-built fertilizer plant experienced gas shortages despite government supply guarantees.
The finance minister comes from a military family, his father having been a general during Bangladesh’s independence war with Pakistan in 1971. After an early forced retirement, the family moved from the garrison city of Rawalpindi to Karachi, where Umar was educated at public schools.
Political Rivalry
The youngest of seven siblings, he shared a room with his brothers Muneer Kamal, who went on to become chairman of the state-owned National Bank of Pakistan, and Mohammad Zubair, a former International Business Machines Corp. executive and governor of Sindh province.
Zubair, 62, recalls his younger brother was more interested in playing cricket and badminton than studying for exams, yet still managed to get the same good grades as his more studious siblings.
Today, the two brothers are split along political lines. Umar left Engro and joined Imran Khan’s Movement for Justice in 2012 after the former cricket star tried multiple times to get him to join. Zubair joined the party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif the same year and was a minister in his government. The brothers have clashed in public often, but remain on speaking terms.
The new government will likely have a short honeymoon before difficult economic reforms need to be taken. “It’s going to be tough,’’ said Omer Yusuf, managing director of Lyra Pvt Ltd., a body armor factory in northern Karachi, who knew Umar during his corporate days. “But they’ve got a good team, Asad Umar is probably one of the most brilliant people I know -- I’m hopeful.’’ — With assistance by Kamran Haider. Bloomberg
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