Dr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal Minister of Finance

Dr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal Minister of Finance

Dr. Omar Zakhilwal, who has obtained his PhD in Economics from Carleton University in Ottawa Canada, his MA from Queen’s University in Kingston Canada and his BA (Honors) from University of Winnipeg Canada, has been the Minister of Finance since March 2009 and Chief Economic Advisor to the President since July 2008. Prior to that he served as the Acting Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation from November 2008 to February 2009 and the President  & CEO of Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) since August 2005 to February 2009. Prior to his return to Afghanistan, Dr. Zakhilwal served as a Senior Research Economist at Statistics Canada and taught economics at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.



Over the period Dr. Zakhilwal has been the Minister of Finance, the Ministry has witnessed significant achievements on a number of fronts. Most noticeable amongst the achievements has been a significant increase in national revenue. As a result of a series of reforms and anti-corruption measures, custom revenues increased from an average of 1.6 billion Afs to over 3 billion Afs per month. Domestic revenue as a whole has increased from an average of 3.1 billion Afs to over 5 billion Afs per month – an increase of more than 60 percent and is further increasing. Moreover, a merit-based appointment system was introduced in the ministry of finance filling all positions through a fair and competitive process.

Aid coordination has been strengthen and more Afghan-led. Foreign advisors were brought under the administration and control of the government of Afghanistan for the first time. A policy analysis center within the ministry was established enabling Afghans to write their own development programs and policies. Stated owned enterprises such as Ariana Airline, Bank Milli, Pashtani Bank, Intercontinental Hotel were assisted and guided to become profitable for the first time. Islamic Banking was introduced in Banki Milli and many more other achievements.
 
Over the three years of his service at AISA, he was able to make that organization as one of the best. In a major report last year, the World Bank ranked AISA in the area of its activities as the First Best in the region and the 17th best in the World. AISA also received the WAIPA second best investment promotion agency award in the International Investment Conference Accra, Ghana in April 2008.   

Prior to becoming the President of AISA, Dr. Zakhilwal served as Chief Advisor at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) of Afghanistan. In addition, he has been a member of the Supreme Council of Da Afghanistan Bank. 

Over the past six and a half years, Dr. Zakhilwal has been part of many initiatives pertaining to economics and development issues in the country. He served as an author of the Afghanistan First National Human Development Report which was released by UNDP in Feb 2007 and won the UN special award for best analysis in June 2007.
 
He also worked as an Afghan counter-part to the Ottawa based North-South Institute-let “What Kind of Peace is Possible” research project, examining the role of community led development in sustainable peace building, as well as working on a number of other development related initiatives. Moreover, he has done consulting work for the World Bank, UNDP, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and other organizations.

Dr. Zakhilwal has written numerous articles in English on political, economic and social issues pertaining to Afghanistan for such prominent newspapers, magazines and journals as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Forum of Federation Quarterly, Human Rights Tribune, Al-Ehram and many other publications.

Dr. Zakhilwal the Chairman of the Government Coordination Committee as well as the Co-chair of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board. He was the Coordinator of the Kabul International Conference, held on July 20, 2010.