Ishrat Husain

Ishrat Husain

Senior Advisor, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

Dr. Ishrat Husain is a distinguished economist, policy advisor, and academic with over five decades of national and international experience in governance, development, and economic reform. He has served as Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (1999–2005), where he led major banking sector reforms and institutional restructuring, contributing to a significant economic turnaround. The Banker Magazine of London declared him the Central Bank Governor of the Year for Asia in 2005, and he received the Asian Banker Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
He was Dean and Director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi (2008–2016), transforming it into one of Pakistan’s leading business schools. He continues to serve as HEC National Distinguished Professor, Professor Emeritus, and Chairman of the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at IBA. He also chaired the National Commission for Government Reforms with the status of Federal Minister, producing a comprehensive two-volume report on governance reforms in Pakistan. . For his outstanding public services, he was also honored with the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (2003) and Nishan-e-Imtiaz (2016), Pakistan’s highest civilian awards
Dr. Husain was Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity (2018–2021), with the status of Federal Minister. In this role, he was a member of the National Economic Council, ECNEC, Economic Coordination Committee, and several Cabinet-level committees. He earlier chaired the Pay and Pension Commission (2009–2010) and served as an independent director on the Benazir Income Support Programme Board.
His global career spans over 20 years at the World Bank, where he held senior positions, including Chief Economist for Africa, East Asia and Pacific, and Director for Central Asian Republics. He also served as Resident Representative in Nigeria and Head of the Debt and International Finance Division. He has worked with institutions such as the IMF, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and UNDP as member of their advisory groups , and was a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC.
Dr. Husain is the author of several acclaimed publications, including Pakistan: The Economy of an Elitist State and Governing the Ungovernable, both published by Oxford University Press. His more recent work, CPEC and the Pakistani Economy, focuses on developments related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He has authored over two dozen books, including Development Pathways: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh 1947–2022, and contributed to over 40 journal articles, 34 book chapters, and numerous monographs.
He earned his Master’s in Development Economics from Williams College and a PhD in Economics from Boston University. He is also a graduate of the executive development program jointly offered by Harvard, Stanford, and INSEAD. Dr. Husain is regularly invited as a speaker to international conferences and seminars and has attended more than 150 such events globally since 2006. He continues to play a vital role in promoting evidence-based economic governance and institutional development at SDPI.