Biography of Khalid Payanda, Acting Minister of Finance

 Mohammad Khalid Payanda, is the current Acting Minister of Finance of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Mr. Payanda has obtained his Master’s Degree in Policy and Development Economic from University of Illinois- United State of America in 2009. He also has a Master’s Degree in Banking and Finance and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.

Mr. Payanda started his career with Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in 2003. He served at the World Bank Office in Kabul as an analyst for the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) projects in 2004. From 2006-2008 Mr. Payanda, worked as specialist of economic affairs at the World Bank Headquarters in Kabul. At the World Bank, he worked on Afghanistan annual economic reports, macroeconomic issues, poverty alleviation and monitoring (ARTF).

He began working as Financial Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Finance in 2010, and then continued to be the Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Finance’s Economic Policy until 2015. With establishment of the National Unity Government in 2015, Mr. Payanda was appointed as Director General of Fiscal Policy and Macrocosmic of Ministry of Finance. Considering the serious need for analysis of financial and economic policies, target for government revenue and budget arrangement based on government’s economic and development policies, he managed to establish not only this department, but also changed it to a central office in the ministry in a short time. The role of Macro- Fiscal Performance General Directorate is tangible in the determination of government financial and economic policies.

Establishing   High   Economic   Council   in   late   2015,   chaired    by    H.E.    President and Ministers of Economic and Infrastructure sectors, as best decision-making authority on macroeconomic policies of the country and attraction of private sector investment,

Mr.Payanda was appointed as secretary of HEC by Minister of Finance. He managed to turn the Secretariat of High Economic Council as an active coordinating center between government and private sectors in a short time and coordinate government’s economic plans, addressing private sector problems and prepare a series of major infrastructure projects to be discussed in High Economic Council.

He was appointed as Deputy Minister of Finance in 2017. Under the optimal management of Mr. Payanda in the management of finance and public expenditure, especially in the way of arranging and implementing the budget, an unprecedented transformation took place. His vision of managing finance and public spending has increased transparency and budget execution over previous years. He truely believed in making the national budget realistic. Mr.payanda applied the following three financial principles to Afghanistan budgeting and public resource management: 1. Use it or lose it,

2. Balanced resources with no deductions, and 3. Cut off the budget transfer process, from one year to another. The principles made the national budget realistic and increased the percentage of its implementation significantly. The government has so far benefited from the changes in budget planning and execution under Khalid Payanda. Likewise, providing the budget in accordance with the GFS and COFOG global standards and a multidimensional report of his initiatives, significantly increased the transparency and credibility of the national budget.

Prior to joining the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Payanda worked with the World Bank on a range of multi-donor development projects and on macroeconomic and financial issues. Mr. Payanda has established the first private university in Afghanistan and has a borad experience of teaching economic and leadership for 12 years there. He is also a Fulbright Scholar