Asad Umar is a Pakistani politician who has been the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. He has previously served as the Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs Minister of Pakistan from 20 August 2018 to 18 April 2019. Prior to entering politics, he was a business executive, serving as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Engro Corporation from 2004 to 2012. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from September 2013 to May 2018.
In an interview, Umar said he was born in Rawalpindi in 1961 and is the youngest of six brothers and one sister. After his father's retirement from military, he moved to Karachi along with his family. His father, Major General (retd) Ghulam Umar, was an army officer considered a close aide to General Yahya Khan.He is the youngest brother of Mohammad Zubair, who was 32nd Governor of Sindh.
Umar received a degree in Commerce (B.Com) at the Government College of Commerce & Economics.
Umar graduated from IBA Karachi in 1984 from where he received an MBA degree.
Professional career
He worked in HSBC Pakistan after graduation for seven months. He joined Exxon Chemical Pakistan in 1985 as a business analyst and was based in Canada. He was the only Pakistani employee of the company due to his father's diplomatic contacts. Umar came back to Pakistan to join Engro Corporation in 1985.
In 1997 was appointed the first CEO of Engro Polymer and Chemicals, the petrochemical company of the group. He became the President and CEO of Engro Corporation in 2004. In 2009, he was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz for his public service.
He was forced into early retirement as president and CEO from Engro in April 2012 at the age of 50.
Umar is being credited for turning a chemical company into a major conglomerate and is considered one of the most popular and highly paid CEOs in Pakistan. During his tenure as CEO of Engro Corporation, Umar was paid about Rs 6 million for the year 2011.
Political career
He joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2012 and was made senior vice president of PTI.
He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Constituency NA-48 (Islamabad-I) as a candidate of PTI in by-election held in August 2013. He received 48,073 votes and defeated a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (N).
In 2014, Lahore University of Management Sciences cancelled a scheduled speech of Umar due to being political in nature rather than educational.
He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-54 (Islamabad-III) in Pakistani general election, 2018. He received 56,945 votes and defeated Anjum Aqeel Khan. Following his successful election, Umar was named as the potential candidate for the office of Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs. On 20 August 2018, he was sworn in as Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
On 18 September 2018, he presented amended finance bill for fiscal year 2018-2019 in the National Assembly.
On 11 October 2018, Umar held a meeting with Christine Lagarde, chair of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and formally applied for bailout package.
The same month news reports emerged that Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed dissatisfaction and reservations over Umar's performance as Minister for Finance.
On 18 April 2019, he stepped down as Finance Minister. |