Shamshad Akhtar

Shamshad Akhtar (Urdu: شمشاد اختر‎; 1954 – 27 December 2025) was a Pakistani development economist, United Nations diplomat, banker and politician who served as the caretaker finance minister of Pakistan from 2023 to 2024 as well as from 5 June 2018 to 18 August 2018.

Prior to that, she served as the 14th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, the first woman to assume this position. She also served as a senior adviser to the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon and as Vice-President of the World Bank.

In December 2013, Akhtar was selected by the UN Secretary-General as Under-Secretary-General and the 10th Chief Secretary of the Monetary and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

In 2023, she served as the caretaker finance minister in the Kakar caretaker government.