Elite finance ministers

I COMPLETELY empathise and sympathise [with the people],” remarked Pakistan’s finance minister as the tax-loaded Finance Bill 2024 was passed by the National Assembly. In a country where more than 10 million children are suffering from undernutrition, the finance minister was keen to observe that Pakistan is “making positive progress” before imposing a ‘milk tax’ on infant formula. Such remarks beg the question what does the finance minister even mean by the word ‘progress’? Is the imposition of exorbitant taxes a way of empathising with the people? To answer such questions, one has to understand the kind of people who become finance ministers in Pakistan in terms of their academic and professional credentials as well as their socioeconomic background. It is through examining these that one can understand their worldview.