Mahbub ul-Haq (Urdu: محبوب الحق; (1934-02-24)24 February 1934 – (1998-07-16)16 July 1998) was a Pakistani economist, international development theorist, and politician who served as the minister of Finance from 10 April 1985 to 28 January 1986, and again from June to December 1988 as a caretaker.
In 1970, after the fall of Ayub Khan, Haq moved to Washington, D.C. to serve at the World Bank as Director of Policy Planning until 1982, where he played a major role in reorienting its approach to assisting development in low-income countries.
[5] Amartya Sen and Tam Dalyell judged Haq's work to have "brought about a major change in the understanding and statistical accounting of the process of development".
Rapid economic development made Haq's team doubt the long-term viability of such a pattern of growth, and he increasingly supported heavier taxation of the asset owning classes.
[16][15] These revelations played a major role in mobilising millions in a massive grassroots protest movement that led to Field Marshal Ayub Khan's overthrow in March 1969.
Following Ayub's fall, Haq accepted an invitation from Robert McNamara, president of the World Bank to serve as his Director of Policy Planning.
During his tenure (1970–82), Haq influenced the Bank's development philosophy and lending policies, steering more attention towards poverty alleviation programmes and increased allocations for small farm production, nutrition, education, water supply and other social sectors.
In 1985 President Zia oversaw a partial return to democracy with so-called 'non-party' general elections, and Haq was sworn in as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs in the PML government of Mohammed Khan Junejo.
Haq's is credited with significant tax reforms, deregulation of the economy, increased emphasis on human development and several initiatives for poverty alleviation.
He led a team of international scholars including Amartya Sen, Paul Streeten, Inge Kaul, Frances Stewart, and Richard Jolly to prepare annual Human Development Reports.